Source: Fusion

By Alaa Basatneh

If you saw someone on the street sitting next to a sign that read “Ask A Muslim,” what would you ask?

Sebastian Robins has probably heard it before. He and his wife Mona Haydar have gained local fame in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for setting up a booth on the street and fielding questions from strangers about all things Islam.

“We were really afraid the first time, up to the point where we considered notifying the police,” Robins told Fusion about the couple’s unconventional idea.

Robins, a white American, converted to Islam in 2012 after meeting his wife, a Syrian American Muslim from Flint, Michigan, on a trip to New Mexico. A few months ago, in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, the two of them started putting up their booth around town “to conquer fear through conversation,” as Haydar put it. The couple’s idea has been successful beyond their imagination, helping them spread love and awareness and even inspiring others around the country to do the same.

“We love it if you can just break bread with us,” said Haydar, who offers free coffee, donuts, and flowers along with her conversation. “Take a moment out of your day and hang out with us.”

The couple said they felt the need to reach out to their community for open dialogue amid heightened security fears and Islamophobic comments from Republican politicians. “Post Paris and San Bernadino, I had never only felt the fear of going out, but kind of this incredible impotence and depression,” said Robins. “It was the first time I was afraid in my own country.”

His own education about Islamophobia had come from his wife. “It’s been a huge reckoning for me,” said Robins about his marriage. “Re-examining my place in society, and what it means to be a white, straight, educated, upper middle-class male in society. I knew these things through studies, but to experience them through Mona’s eyes…it’s pretty amazing.”

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