Patricia Raybon, left, talks with a reporter at her Aurora home while she chats via streaming video with daughter Alana, who lives with her husband and four children in Nashville, Tenn. The two wrote a book about their relationship. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

By Colleen O’Connor
For The Denver Post

When Alana Raybon converted to Islam, her mother, Patricia, — a devout Christian — was devastated, feeling that she had failed her faith and family. She also felt very angry at her daughter for fragmenting their family.

But after a few terrible fights, they didn’t talk about the faith divide for 10 years. “It became the elephant in the room,” said Patricia, a longtime member of Shorter Community A.M.E. Church.

When they agreed to start talking about the taboo topic, buried emotions exploded like land mines, triggered by topics from theBoston Marathon bombing to something as simple as Mother’s Day.

The process, which took years, is chronicled in their new book, “Undivided: A Muslim Daughter, Her Christian Mother, Their Path to Peace,” which shows how overcoming their obstacles dramatically changed Patricia’s feeling about Muslims around the world — to the point of speaking out against Islamophobia in the wake of the recent incident at the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest in Texas in which two men who aligned themselves with the Islamic State terrorist group were shot dead before they could attack participants.

The Raybons’ story is getting national attention. They’ve appeared on the “Today Show” and “Fox & Friends.” Last weekend they flew to Los Angeles to appear on the “Tavis Smiley” show on PBS.

On Tuesday, Patricia gave a talk called “Daring to Love My Muslim Daughter” at the Denver Seminary. And Jerry Jenkins of Colorado Springs, the Christian co-author of the best-selling “Left Behind” series, has praised the new book as “a stunner” onhis blog.

“I identify with Patricia as a parent and grandparent and felt she was courageous in going public with this heartbreaking struggle,” Jenkins said in an e-mail.

Mother and daughter are learning that their reconciliation efforts give hope to others heartbroken over their own shattered families.

“I heard from (people) who said the divide wasn’t necessarily a faith divide, but something had come between people in the family,” said Patricia, in her mid-60s. “Parents not speaking to daughters or sons, daughters not speaking to parents. People are divided, and they’re hurting.”

In the book, mother and daughter write in a back-and-forth style, responding to each other’s confessions and reflections with a brutal honesty that triggers raw feelings.

Read further

Additional Reading

Happy Mother’s Day to All the Mothers of the World
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