"As Muslims we welcomed them all. We welcomed them with bread, salt, and our hearts."

We hear many accounts of what happened during the Holocaust. The atrocities committed; the times and places in which unspeakable acts against humankind occurred; the millions of lives stolen too soon.

But the story told above by Nazlie Alla, whose Albanian Muslim family sheltered Jews from Greece, Slovakia, and Germany, is less well known.

It's hard to imagine that in any European country there were more Jews at the end of World War II than before it began. But almost every single Jew in Albania, whether they were Albanians or refugees from other nations, survived during the German occupation.

And Albania was the only European country to have a Muslim majority.

My guess (and let's be honest - when it comes to Iran, we're all guessing) is that two grand narratives are playing a shaping role in Iran right now -- call them Grant Park and Karbala, otherwise known as the current Era of Obama and the ancient heritage of Shia Islam.

The celebration of Obama's election victory in Grant Park on November 5, 2008, matters for two reasons. The first is because that's the day Iran stopped being part of the Axis of Evil. For decades, The regime in Iran had successfully built support by creating an Us vs. Them framework with America playing the role of 'Them'. By making Iran part of the Axis of Evil, the Bush Administration embraced the role of 'Them'. However much young and progressive Iranians hated their regime, they hated being labeled Evil by a foreign power even more. If they had to choose between being punched in the face by the Iranian regime or being punched in the face by the Bush Administration, they chose the Persian fist. Obama's victory, and his subsequent reaching out to the Iranian people, changed the Us vs. Them framework.

This blog was written by Eboo Patel and Samantha Kirby.

This afternoon, like every Friday, members of Muslim communities join together and pray the jum'ah prayer. But in Iran, this Friday afternoon is different.

Hours ago, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lead prayers at Tehran University. Yesterday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported that a large turnout of Iranians for the Friday prayers would show "solidarity and unity among Iranians."

Today's guest blogger is Farhana Khera, the Executive Director of Muslim Advocates, a national legal advocacy and educational organization.

In his June 4 address to Muslim nations from Cairo, Egypt, President Obama acknowledged that--since September 11, 2001--American Muslims have faced a complex and daunting maze of new federal regulations governing charitable giving:

"Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it. For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat."

The Friday New York Times headline read, "In Iran, a Real Race, and Talk of a Sea Change." On Saturday the headline was, "Both Sides Claim Victory In Iran Presidential Vote."

And on Sunday, the Times' Bill Keller wrote, "for those who dreamed of a gentler Iran, Saturday was a day of smoldering anger, crushed hopes and punctured illusions, from the streets of Tehran to the policy centers of Western capitals."

I was in New York over the weekend and quickly got tired of watching news reports of the ugly face of Iran in the form of riot police and tear gas. That's what the leaders of the revolution have wanted Americans to see since 1979. Enhancing ugliness is what Ahmadinejad is most expert at.

But there is another face of Iran - a civilization of beauty and aspiration. My wife and I decided to make a trip to the Brooklyn Museum, where in addition to their excellent collection of Islamic art (much of it Iranian) there is a special exhibition called 'Light of the Sufis'.

On Wednesday, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier - an 88-year-old man filled with hate - walked into the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC with a rifle and killed a courageous security guard, Officer Stephen Johns. If not for the quick actions of a heroic few, more chaos and tragedy would likely have ensued.

Yesterday I was in DC. As I stood in our nation's capital - the city which represents the American values of democracy, freedom and, increasingly, hope - I wondered how this atrocity could have happened. The man charged in the attack, James Wenneker von Brunn, has been on the radar of the federal authorities for some time for his anti-Semitic and racist commentary online and erratic outbursts in the community.

In Cairo, President Obama stated in no uncertain terms the importance he places on interfaith cooperation. He also stressed that interfaith work should take the form of concrete service projects:

"Indeed, faith should bring us together. That is why we are forging service projects in America that bring together Christians, Muslims, and Jews...Around the world, we can turn dialogue into Interfaith service, so bridges between peoples lead to action - whether it is combating malaria in Africa, or providing relief after a natural disaster."

For a long time, interfaith cooperation meant a group of senior theologians or religious leaders presenting a document about peace at a conference in a fancy hotel. That's all good stuff, but I remember going to some of those conferences in the late 1990s and having two questions - where are the young people, and where is the social action?

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sought to bridge the great divides of his age by challenging the dominant paradigm and lifting up a new framework. King was clear: this isn't a black vs. white world, but a "live together as brothers or perish together as fools" world.

Today in Cairo, President Obama made his most King-like speech.
Obama came to Cairo to bridge one of the great divides of our age - between the United States and the Muslim world. And he drew from the same vision, grace and courage that King did.

He spoke of his admiration for Muslim civilization and its role across the ages in nurturing learning and progress, peace and pluralism. These are the same values that America has sought to advance. The stereotypes that Islam is only violent, or that America only seeks empire, are inaccurate and counterproductive. So is the focus only on the history of conflict. We have to begin our relationship on a different paradigm - the history of cooperation, and the power of our common principles.

President Obama is making his long-awaited speech to the Muslim world tomorrow morning in Cairo. Everyone is talking about what message he should send to the Muslim world. But the truth is, it isn't just citizens of Muslim majority countries that will be tuning in.

Obama will be addressing the 930 million Hindus in India, and the 5 million Jews in Israel, and the 38 million Catholics in Spain, and the 500,000 Muslims in his own city of Chicago.

This is graduation season, and I've had the great honor of giving Commencement Addresses at several educational institutions. Here is the text of the speech I gave at Elmhurst College yesterday - a place where I have some history.

Commencement Address at Elmhurst College
May 31, 2009

This corner of the world shaped my life.

My family, Muslim immigrants from India, came to the United States in the mid 1970s. My father did an MBA at Notre Dame University, got a job in advertising at Leo Burnett Company, and worked hard for a better life for his family. When I was still very young, we moved to the second floor of an apartment building, across the street from a McDonalds, on St. Charles Avenue, just a few miles from here.

First, the Taliban said they were the protectors of Muslims from the "Western Crusaders". Then they claimed to shield "true" Islam from the infidel Shia. Next they stated they would beat men without beards, bully women without headscarves and destroy shops that carried Bollywood films to keep Islam pure.

But totalitarians know no limits. They understand only their own perverse notions of purity, their manic hunger for power and their fanatical willingness to destroy everything in their path.

The Taliban are not just the enemies of the West. Or only the Shia. Or simply Muslim men without facial hair and Muslim women without headscarves. The Taliban are the enemies of everyone. I hope the Pakistani army, especially the intelligence services, understands this loud and clear. I am quite sure the Pakistani people get it.