Thursday, March 20, 2008
Muslim, Jewish leaders bring faiths together
by Andrea Noble | Staff Writer
Christopher Anderson⁄The Star Imad-Ad-Dean Ahmad (left) and Rabbi Stephen Weisman discuss the common Abrahamic roots of their two faiths at the first of six-week series of discussions between Jews and Muslims sponsored by the Temple Solel congregation and the Islamic Society of Southern Prince George’s County at the Davies Unitarian Universalist Church in Temple Hills on Saturday.
|
The latest push for peace in the Middle East isn’t part of any politician’s ‘‘road map” plan. Rather it’s an effort by local Jewish and Muslim leaders to bring their congregations together for dialogue over the similarities in their faiths.
Approximately 15 members of The Islamic Society of Southern Prince George’s County and Temple Solel in Bowie met Sunday for the first in a series of six seminars meant to provide a better understanding of both faiths.
Focusing on Abraham, a common prophet in Islam, Judaism and Christianity, Imam Imad-Ad-Dean Ahmad and Rabbi Stephen Weisman dissected and analyzed similar elements and differences in interpretation in stories about Abraham as written in both the Quran and Torah.
‘‘We as Jews trace our lineage back to Isaac and Muslims trace their lineage back to Ishmael,” said Weisman of Abraham’s two sons. ‘‘It makes us brothers and sisters.”
It also made a sensible place to start a dialogue between two groups at odds with each other across the world following the creation of Israel. Weisman said future sessions are meant to tackle other common elements like obligations of charity in both religions. But, beyond the academic knowledge of the religions, he hopes participants will simply get to know people of the other faiths to dispel stereotypes they may have about each other.
‘‘We have people in our community that have unproductive ideas about Judaism,” said seminar organizer Khalil Shadeed. ‘‘You really cannot be open about these things without being honest.”
So the seminar left room for questions that ranged from philosophical to grammatical; including a query about the Arabic meaning of ‘‘Allah,” which means God.
‘‘The issue is too important to have people going away with the same questions in their minds,” Shadeed said.
Participants had their own unique reasons for attending. Temple Solel member Robin Hall was nervous when her son informed her he would be studying abroad in Morocco for four months. With no background knowledge of the Islamic culture in the North African country, Hall said the seminars sounded like the perfect opportunity to learn more.
‘‘I have a lot of homework to do even about my own religion,” said Hall after the seminar.
Muslim attendee Ali Muhammad, of Clinton, was impressed by the discussion but said he would like to see more average community members participating alongside the many academics who were in attendance.
‘‘One of the problems in the world today is illiteracy, meaning not understanding,” Muhammad said. ‘‘When a person does not study their religion themselves they are told by someone else.”
While Weisman and Ahmad do not plan to inject Middle Eastern politics directly into their seminars, Weisman hopes by getting the two groups together some discussion of the issues will arise and the groups can work together to find solutions to the violence in the region.
‘‘I’m not sure that it makes it any easier because we are Americans, in some ways it might even make it more difficult because of the distance to the issue involved,” Shadeed said. ‘‘We do have to help our brothers and sisters in Palestine and Israel to resolve these issues.”
If you go
The next seminar will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. March 30 at Temple Solel, 2901 Mitchellville Road, Bowie.
