Colleagues, Not Competitors: Healing Across Traditions
Some conversations take years to reach the microphone. In this episode of Headwaters Journal, host Arne Bratten, a physician and Lutheran pastor, sits down with Dr. Tamim Saidi, a pharmacist, Muslim chaplain, and founding board member of Headwaters. What unfolds is part origin story and part invitation, as two healers from distinct traditions show what it looks like to listen well, speak honestly, and work side by side for the people they serve.
What Is the Headwaters Journal? Four Principles for Interfaith Dialogue
Arne opens by laying out the framework that guides Headwaters. The first principle is collegiality: faith leaders from different traditions are colleagues, not competitors, much like doctors working through a differential diagnosis together. Drawing on his late seminary professor Dr. Paul Martinson, he describes the great traditions as railroad tracks that are neither identical nor parallel but intersect, so the task is to name honestly where they converge and where they diverge. Each tradition is invited to speak with its best clarity about its own diagnosis and treatment for human suffering, always moving from the sources toward the person who is seeking wisdom, hope, or healing.
“Drugs Don’t Have Doses, Patients Do”: Individualized Care in Medicine and Ministry
Tamim shares two lessons from his first day of pharmacy school that have stayed with him for more than 25 years. The first was that you cannot care for others if you cannot care for yourself and your family. The second was that each patient needs a specific dose, and he has found the same truth applies to spiritual counsel, where a cookie-cutter answer rarely fits the person in front of you. Arne connects this to the importance of listening, noting that no single scripture passage works for everyone until you understand what is actually happening in someone’s life.
What Does Inshallah Mean? Understanding “God Willing” in Islam
Tamim explains that inshallah means “God willing” and that Muslims are taught not to speak of future plans without acknowledging that everything rests in God’s hands. He also describes mashallah, a phrase used when seeing something impressive to recognize it as a gift of God’s will and grace. Arne notes the Christian parallel in the Latin Deo volente and reflects that the phrase reminds him God is at work in the world all the time, not only when he puts on his “religion hat.”
What Is an Imam? Religious Leadership and Chaplaincy in Sunni Islam
Unlike traditions with a formal hierarchy, Sunni Islam has no centralized structure, and an imam is literally the one who stands in front to lead prayer. Communities have traditionally chosen someone with deep knowledge of the Quran, though today many imams train at Islamic seminaries that teach counseling, marital support, and conflict resolution alongside theology. Tamim’s own path began when a scheduled speaker failed to show up and he was asked to deliver a sermon on the spot, which eventually led to a Bush Fellowship and a Master of Divinity through Bayan Islamic Graduate School and Chicago Theological Seminary after he saw how few Muslim chaplains were serving the community.
From Afghan Refugee to Pharmacist: A Story of Faith, War, and Family
Tamim grew up in Kabul under Soviet occupation, when practicing Muslims risked arrest, and he remembers his father keeping a coat by the bed in case of a knock at the door in the night. At about 16 he was smuggled into Pakistan through mountain passes at night, later coming to Minnesota, where he finished high school and planned to become a doctor. When his family was forced to flee to Pakistan, he chose pharmacy so he could support them sooner, and he did not see his parents for over nine years. Today he works as a consultant pharmacist for long-term care facilities, where roughly 70 percent of his recommendations involve reducing or discontinuing unnecessary medications for elderly residents.
What Immigrant Stories Have in Common, From Norway to Afghanistan
Arne shares the story of his Norwegian grandfather, who left a small mountain farm in Telemark after his own father died and the land could not be divided among four sons. Tamim reflects on three generations of refugees in his family, beginning with a grandfather who fled Uzbekistan after the Russian invasion in the early 1900s. Both men agree that very few people leave home by choice, and Tamim encourages listeners to extend empathy to today’s refugees, because in their shoes most of us would make the same decision.
How to Pass On Faith to the Next Generation
Tamim describes bringing his children with him to teach Quran classes, paying them two dollars an hour as his teaching assistants, and later watching them return to teach on their own as teenagers. Now in college, they lead student organizations, organize blood drives, and volunteer at a free clinic. He also distinguishes arranged marriage from forced marriage, noting that Islam requires the consent of both bride and groom, and he credits his parents for helping him find his wife, Farzana. His advice for future leaders is simple: begin with a sincere intention to help people, and the skills will follow.
Standout Quotes
“Drugs don’t have doses. Patients have doses.” (Tamim, recalling his pharmacy professor)
“The older I get, the more I come to believe that the truth will authenticate itself.” (Arne)
“Religion is sincere advice.” (Tamim, quoting the Prophet Muhammad)
“Before I came here, I thought we were this far apart. Now I think we are this close together.” (Tamim, recalling a church attendee in Saint Cloud)
“Nine years and four months and three days.” (Tamim’s mother, on how long it had been since she’d seen her son)
“It’s like hearing a bell ring. It reminds us what time of day it is.” (Arne, on hearing inshallah)
“Arranged marriage is not the same as forced marriage.” (Tamim)
“If you’re only good for yourself, then what are you good for?” (Tamim)
