Before our journey, we met as a group for months, learning how to listen objectively to all sides of conflicts.

While we were still in these preparatory stages, my wife passed away. I strongly considered not going, but her desire for me to be a part of this association motivated me to stay in the group, and I'm so glad I did.

Over the course of our trip, people of different faiths, economic status, races, political views and communities came together. And through our diversity, we became more unified.

Throughout the trip, there was a great air of respect, rather than tolerance. "Tolerance" implies putting up with something, something you'd prefer not to put up with. Respect is learning about others' differences, rather than just putting up with them.

We arrived in Tel Aviv, and if not for the armed soldiers everywhere you'd think you were in Miami, with its palm trees and warm weather. The major cities of Israel are not unlike cities in America, with high-rises and malls and such.

But Jerusalem, well that's another story.

The most spiritual journey a Muslim can make is hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca. It is referred to as "the trip of a lifetime," as it truly is.

But Jerusalem is truly the center of all the Abrahamic faiths; a city where the followers of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad live together.

Jerusalem is a place of hope and despair, and whenever you find these two conditions in the same environment, hope will always win out. Jerusalem is a city of hope in that the spirit of the different prophets G-d sent is still alive and well there.

The Western Wall for the Jewish people, the Holy Sepulcher for the Christians and the Dome of the Rock and Masjid Al Aqsa for the Muslims are a constant reminder that all three faiths come from a common root.

Because we believe in all of G-d's prophets (we make no distinctions between one and another), Muslims love Jesus, too. Indeed, many African-American Muslims accepted Islam after being first introduced to Christianity.

The experience of walking the same streets as Jesus, wading in the Sea of Galilee where he walked on the water and seeing the spot where he fed the multitudes with fish and two loaves of bread were highly spiritual to me as a Muslim, just as they would be to Christians.

A beautiful brother I met named Suleiman talked about the big dream and the small hope. The big dream is that the other side will go away, disappear, cease to exist; the small hope is that both sides can live in peace.

I'm thankful that people like Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and groups like Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam and Combatants for Peace B'Tselem, to name a few, are keeping this small hope alive.

From my perspective, when the political Jews stop arguing with the religious Arabs, the political Arabs stop arguing with the religious Jews, the political Arabs start communicating with the political Jews and the religious Jews and Arabs start a dialogue, that small hope will become a big dream.

Hope for me came when those in my delegation became part of my human family. It was said by our prophet Muhammad that in the last days, the sun will rise in west and set in the east. Let the diversity and unity of people of faith in the west bring hope and joy and settle in the east.

Peace to all. *

Abdul-Halim Hassan is imam at Masjidullah, 7700 Ogontz Ave.