I’d like to see more news like this….
I recall my first experience with Ramadan: I was a junior in college, living in an apartment at the Wesley Foundation on campus, and the center had rented out the meeting space in front of my apartment for Ramadan prayers. If I recall correctly, it was also Rosh Hashanah AND my birthday–I wonder if that was a sign for me about my own future as a scholar working on religion and diversity issues?
Va. synagogue doubles as mosque during Ramadan
The partnership isn’t entirely new. The two communities have held occasional events together going back a decade: dialogues and community service. Still, some members of both communities were unsure of how things would work at first.
“When they rented the place, I was surprised, but then after that when I came here and saw how nicely everything is set up and how well done it is … I am very happy with it,” said mosque member Ambreen Ahmed.
Now, mosque members sometimes greet the rabbi with the Hebrew greeting “Shalom”; he’ll answer back with the Arabic equivalent, “Salaam.” Nosanchuk spoke at Friday afternoon prayers recently. The imam spoke at Friday evening Shabbat services.
Both groups say the relationship won’t be over when Ramadan ends in North America over the weekend. The rabbi and imam are talking about possibly even making a joint trip to the Middle East, and Friday prayers will still be held at the synagogue.
Magid says some mosque members, in fact, have permanently moved from the mosque to the synagogue.
Something similar is happening among Christians as well:
Muslims find new Ramadan fast partners: Christians
Ries is among a small group of Christians who’ve joined well-known evangelical author and speaker Brian McLaren in observing a Ramadan fast, opening a new chapter in interfaith relations between two traditions often at odds.
To McLaren and his Christian and Muslim fasting partners, it’s a neighborly gesture of solidarity that deepens their respective faiths and sends a message about finding peace and common ground.
[...] McLaren, 53, is the godfather of the “emerging” or “emergent” church, a loose-knit movement that seeks to recover ancient Christian worship practices and, in some cases, question traditional evangelical theology.
[...]In announcing his Ramadan fast plans on his blog last month, McLaren wrote, “We are not doing so in order to become Muslims: we are deeply committed Christians. But as Christians, we want to come close to our Muslim neighbors and to share this important part of life with them.” The goal is to join Muslims in the observance as “a God-honoring expression of peace, fellowship and neighborliness,” he wrote.
McLaren, a former pastor, said his Ramadan fast is also part of his post-9-11 worldview.
“Some Christians in the U.S. are becoming more anti-Muslim,” he said in an interview. “They are retrenching in a fearful, angry posture. Other Christians are saying now, in the aftermath of Sept. 11, we have to recommit ourselves to the work of peacemaking like never before. That has been my response.”
