Pakistani-born business executive Muslim Lakhani remembers fondly the Jewish classmates from his Karachi primary school, but prior to last week, he had never stepped foot in a synagogue.
Yet the reason for his visit on Thursday evening of last week -- an iftar, the traditional meal that ends the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- has an irony not lost on the 50-something chair and CEO of ML Resources, a Washington, D.C., investment firm.
"This was always a dream of mine, to come to a synagogue -- and to come on Ramadan with my Christian brothers," Lakhani said with a smile as he stood in the stairwell of the District's Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, with Maj. Steve Morris, area commander for The Salvation Army, an evangelical Christian charitable organization.
