Starting Conversations with Muslim Shopkeepers

Some notes from a seminar in Glasgow (mp3 here):

'Where are you from?' is often an alienating question, because for one thing it can be a hard question to answer, and it can sound xenophobic. (I remember the guy I asked that question to at a petrol station kiosk and he replied 'Well, I used to live in Belgium, and I'm a Kurd who grew up in Syria and now I live in the UK')
Other approaches we discussed in this seminar include:

1. A better intro question might be 'We're terrible at learning other languages in Britain. What other languages do you speak?' Or make an educated guess- 'Do you speak some Urdu or Arabic?' [this already marks you out from xenophobes. People who hate Asians, for example, probably don't know their main language is called Urdu- his ethnographic knowledge barely stretches further than the abbreviated form of 'Pakistani'...]
   
2. Note whether they sell alcohol & pork. This will give an indication of how serious their Islam is. If they sell bacon sandwiches, we can point out we agree that all foods are clean, and as Jesus said the real issue is what comes out of our hearts.
3. Take an interest in their spices and ethnic food products. "I'd love to be able to cook a better curry!"...sometimes the wife would love to have a woman visit and learn from them how to cook.
4. Ask them to show you their favourite Kurdish/ Punjabi/ Turkish singer on YouTube.
5. If they're a parent, talking about bad influences at school is a good topic to bring up. Many Muslims are alarmed at what the LGBT lobby try to foist on young children, and they will respect you if you say you are very unhappy about how marriage is undermined in many schools and that the Bible does not support homosexual practice and transgender ideology.