Mark Stroman was in a shooting rampage to kill as many Muslims
as possible as a retaliation of 9/11 terrorist attacks.
He killed Waqar Hasan a man from Pakistan.
He shot and killed a man from India,Vasudev Patel.
And on September 21st, 2001 he shot me in the face.
As a child my impression about U.S.A. was
it's a great country, a beautiful country.
I remember watching a lot of Western movies.
For a Few Dollars More.
The Good, Bad, and The Ugly.
It was a dream, that one day I should visit
the wild wild west and see all those things.
After graduating from a military school in Bangladesh.
I went to Dallas and loved it.
Worked pretty hard and within like a month,
I was working as a clerk in a gas station.
It gave me an opportunity to get to know the people,
to learn the culture.
I moved to Dallas in May, 2001
three months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Ten days after 9/11, I was behind the counter,
a customer walked in.
He was holding a double barreled shotgun
pointing at my face.
I said, "Sir, here's all the money. Please do not shoot me."
And then he mumbled a question,
"Where are you from?"
I was confused and I said,
"Excuse me?"
As soon as I said excuse me, he pulled the trigger.
I felt at first like a million bees stinging my face,
and then I heard the explosion.
Frantically I placed both palms on my head
thinking I had to keep my brain from spilling out.
Images of my mother, my father, my siblings
and my fiancee appeared one after another one.
And I was begging God, do not take me today.
[Clip] Ten days after 9/11 Stroman went on a shooting spree.
[Clip] Mark Stroman, a white supremacist wanted revenge,
and shot three clerks, who he thought were Muslims.
[Clip] Here in America everybody will say it, "Let's get them".
Two of his victims died.
Stroman was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
I went to Haaj in 2009 with my mother
during the pilgrimage she was rubbing on my face
she was crying...and I heard my mom telling God
that whatever my son wants to do with this life,
help him.
In my faith, in Islam, it says that saving a life
is like saving the entire mankind.
Mark Stroman has committed a heinous crime,
there's no doubt about that.
But, all the good things I was taught inspired me:
go and do the right thing.
[Clip] Mark Stroman has been in this prison
behind me for nearly ten years.
[Clip] As he sits on Death Row, an unlikely champion
is fighting to save his life.
[Clip] Bhuiyan will be partially blind for the rest of
his life because of his injuries.
[Clip] But he wasn't interested in eye-for-an-eye justice.
I went to the US supreme court asking for clemency for Mark Stroman.
Went to the US Federal court,
went to the US State court of Texas.
[Clip] For this man to forgive me, which I've done unforgivable,
for him to come forward, the way he did,
[Clip] it speaks volume. It speaks volume for the human race.
He wrote a long letter to me.
He said that, "My step-father taught me some lessons
that I should have never learned."
"I have unlearned some of them,
and I'm still unlearning some of them."
"I don't know who your parents were...
but it is obvious they're wonderful people
to lead you to act this way:
to forgive someone who is unforgivable."
On the day he was executed
he put my name on the list of people that he would like to talk.
As soon as he came on the phone I said,
"Mark you should know that I never hated you."
"I forgive you."
And he said, "Rais, I love you bro."
The same person ten years back his heart
was filled with hate and ignorance.
But when he came to know me
he saw me as a human being.
He was able to tell me that he loved me
and he called me brother.
Today, I am the Founder and President of a non-profit called,
"World Without Hate".
Educating people about the transformation of power
of mercy, and forgiveness.
Based on the hope that we can build a better world.
A world without violence, a world without victims,
and a world without hate.