Developing friendship across difference

Posted Sep 29, 2015 in Faith

As Interfaith September comes to an end, John Maddern reminds us of the importance of conversations and connections between faith communities. He reflects on an interfaith event held at Adelaide West Uniting Church earlier this year.

How many would attend? We were hoping for about 30. What if only a dozen or so turned up? Should we meet in the Adelaide West chapel?

Then as the time approached, they began arriving. More and more arrived until at the start time of 1.30pm, there were approximately 80 people present – a third of them under the age of 30.

There was an evident desire to gain a greater understanding of Muslim faith from people in the local community.

A small group of Muslim people were invited to come to the event at Adelaide West to talk about their faith and their experiences living as Australian Muslims. As they gathered at the event, the group expressed their deep appreciation for the warm welcome they had received from the moment they stepped out of their cars in the car park.

Ruth Harbinson-Gresham, chair of the event and a member of the event’s organising team, had previously established friendships with the guests. Speaking to those assembled, she reiterated the understanding that this session was not a debate about faith, but a gateway to building relationships with people being ostracized in our community.

Two of the guests presented at the event – Mo, a young man, and Azidah, a woman from the Muslim Women’s Association. They each spoke with confidence, evident honesty, and a great deal of humour, addressing questions that had been collected and communicated to them prior to the event.

In his address, Mo explained the principles of Halal, the Islamic laws relating to food. He went on to address the question of costs associated with Halal food licensing ending up in the hands of ISIS. This is a claim that more than one department of the Australian government has investigated and found to be groundless. Mo also explained that the Halal certification business adds billions of dollars to the Australian economy annually.

After Mo’s address, Azidah spoke about the basic tenets of Islam. She covered a great deal of ground, including submitted questions related to Muslim women’s dress and jihad. In speaking about the former, Azidah pointed out that women are permitted a wide variety of dress within a certain spectrum, likening this to the alphabet. She emphasised that dress codes and many other actions are often determined by culture, not necessarily by religion.

Moving on to the next topic, Azidah’s explanation of jihad was enlightening. As she explained it, the word refers to committing your whole being to something, in a struggle. For example, if you commit yourself to looking after an ageing parent, that is your jihad, and you commit to it with your whole being.

In addition, Azidah explained that the Qur’an (the central religious text of Islam) lists strict conditions for committing to war, what the rules are (for example, rule one states that children, women, livestock and bees are not to be killed), and war is always as a last resort. She pointed out that scriptures are frequently taken out of context by people in many faiths.

Azidah also talked about “people of the Book” (Jews and Christians) – how highly they are regarded in Islam, and are not compelled to convert. She also explained how Muslims interpret the term “son of God” in the Bible (used of David and other prophets) to reach the conclusion that Jesus is not God.

Although many questions had been submitted prior to the event and answered by the speakers, an additional amount of question time took place at the event. This allowed those present to bring up any points that had come up during the talks or which they felt still had not been addressed.

During this time, Mo addressed the question: “How is it that ISIS can attract young Australian Muslims to go and give their lives fighting in the Middle East?” He explained that some young Muslims born in Australia with parents from a particular cultural background, do not feel a true connection to their cultural roots as they haven’t lived there – for example, a young person with parents from Lebanon may not feel as though they are Lebanese. In addition to this, they can often struggle to feel accepted by the mainstream Australian community. This, Mo said, leads to their lacking a sense of belonging, and it is that insecurity which ISIS exploits so convincingly.

Given that ISIS has tortured and killed vastly more Muslims than Christians, it can be difficult to believe that an ordinary Australian Muslim would give any support to them. Mo’s explanation shows how this can still occur.

Warm and lengthy applause greeted the completion of Mo and Azidah’s presentation, showing how positively it had been received by those gathered at Adelaide West. Our people queued up to talk further with them, and many declared it as one of the most important functions they had attended in years.

Hopefully it is a friendship in only its early stages!

The team behind the Adelaide West event are currently arranging to visit a local mosque, returning the visit of the group who came to Adelaide West. They hope to continue to build relationships with the local Muslim community.

Pictured in the photo on the main page (left to right): John Maddern, Ali, Mo Al-Khafaji, Sherifa, Dora, Azidah, Hasif, Ruth Harbinson-Gresham, and Esmond Dowdy.

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