Common Threads....

Last week I volunteered to write up an article for a newspaper regarding an event being held in my community. They did not tell me what to write - just write something about it. So I chose to go with first person narrative and testamonial, as opposed to journalistic - partly because I did not trust myself to be accurate on the names and exact words everyone used. I could get the gist, of course.

I pondered whether or not I should post what I wrote to my blogs. Would it be a good idea? But, after some thought, I realized today that I want you to read what I think about this. That I believe more in this - than 80% of what I write regarding tv shows, etc. Plus the internet is to a degree about sharing information or what we experience with others. Our points of view so to speak.

As a bit of a preamble - prior to attending this event, I either read or experienced the following items. I'm mentioning them, because it is important, I think, to understand the context of this story. Also, as an aside, I was very nervous about writing this article. I did not want to screw up.

1. This past week, a news piece aired in the media about how little most Americans know about others religions, including their own. The survey was posted on several journals on my flist.

Here it is: http://pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx

( Read more... )

2. Last week I read the infamous blog post by science fiction novelist, Elizabeth Moon. I'm posting a link to it here, not because I want to rehash or even revisit the kerfuffle, but because her post articulates how many Americans, particularly those living in NYC, such as Rudy Giulani, Sen. Al Damato, a few fire-fighters, view Muslims and the Mosque being built at Ground Zero. The article I wrote below serves as a counter-point to this sentiment. And of those who share it and have spoken about it, Ms. Moon articulates it the best.

Here's the link:http://e-moon60.livejournal.com/335480.html

Below is the edited article that I wrote, which I would like to share with you, with the names changed, of course.

Common Threads or Looking at it from a Human Perspective

This year I attended 10th anniversary of the Common Threads Dinner, an annual inter-faith celebration started shortly after 9/11, in which stories are shared, and religious ideas exchanged. Thirty to forty people from two faiths attended the dinner and dined with one another.

As-Salāmu `Alaykum (السلام عليكم)

(Peace be upon you)

Ten years ago on the last day of Ramadan, several members of an Unitarian Universalist Church walked into a Mosque. They thought that they would just see a service or at most a sermon, instead they were greeted with a celebratory feast and graciously invited to sit down and eat with the members of the Mosque. The feast they were invited to partake in is called Eid-ul-Fitr, is the feast at the end of Ramadan, where fellowship with families and surrounding communities is encouraged.

The feast of Ramadan, according to MR and HA, members of the Mosque the UU's had visited ten years ago, takes place for 30 days and is the Islamic month of fasting. "We fast from sunrise to sunset. Certain individuals are granted leave not to fast - such as the elderly, the infirm, pregnant women, and children below the age of puberty. During the fast, we must refrain from showing animosity towards others, which includes cursing, rudeness, fighting, or anything that could be considered as not taking in the learning."

The next year, the Unitarian Universalist Church (“ UU”) invited members from the surrounding Muslim Community to share with them the traditional feast of Eid-ul-Fitr. This tradition of community sharing has continued for 10 years and is called The Common Threads Dinner. Due to the fact that Ramadan ended before the UU Church reconvened for its new year, the Common Threads Dinner took place post-Ramadan and not on the feast of Eid-ul-Fitr as it had in previous years.

DA an active member of the Muslim Community, informed those present that similar gatherings had occurred this year in three synagogues across the NYC metropolitan area. “The only way we can continue to preserve peaceful relations in our community is by standing side-by-side together. Our goal is to replicate Eid-ul-Fitr dinners such as this in churches and communities across the nation.”

DA added, “On September 19, in Queens NY, at the National Muslim Summit Meeting - it was decided in direct response to the controversy surrounding the Mosque at ground zero, that we should host a series of open houses at our mosques across the country and in our cities. Inviting people of other faiths and views inside our places of worship, to view how we worship and what we are about. We have nothing to hide. Our doors are open to you. Everyone is welcome, no matter your views or your faith."

"This bears repeating. We in the Muslim Community and here at this inter-faith gathering stand united in our support of the Mosque near ground zero. Freedom of religion is our right, the right to worship anywhere. We as human beings, especially here, in the USA, are a compassionate people first and always. We must remember that."

Walking home from the dinner, I thought hard about what to write and DA’s words resonated with me...not about religion but about being human. We are all human and as such we are compassionate. That as human beings is our greatest gift, our ability to feel compassion for others outside of ourselves.

The Common Thread Dinner and celebrations like it and the National Mosque Open Doors Event, allow us to come together as human beings. As my dinner partner, a Muslim and Palestinian, stated, “In the movies - the humans all unite to defeat the monsters. Why can't we do that all the time?”