Spot the Difference

One of my favourite blogs on kuwait is http://intlxpatr.wordpress.com/

There is so much here about life in Kuwait in general, and every now and then there are issues raised to do with religion in Kuwait.

One of the latest entries titled "Minarets", shows photographs of minarets in Kuwait and asks if you can identify them as belonging to a mosque used by Sunni or Shi'a.

It is possible - click on the link above to find out how you can recognise the difference.

Enjoy

A popular guiding principle for Christians is WWJD or What Would Jesus Do? It was interesting to see an Islamic equivalent presented as What Would Prophet Muhammad Do? See Article below.


What Would Muhammad Do?
From Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR

Muslim Response to Cartoon Controversy

"You do not do evil to those who do evil to you, but you deal with them with forgiveness and kindness." (Sahih Al-Bukhari)

That description of Islam's Prophet Muhammad is a summary of how he reacted to personal attacks and abuse.

Islamic traditions include a number of instances of the prophet having the opportunity to strike back at those who attacked him, but refraining from doing so.

These traditions are particularly important as we witness outrage in the Islamic world over cartoons, initially published in a Danish newspaper, that were viewed as intentional attacks on the prophet.

Peaceful and not-so-peaceful protests have occurred from Gaza to Indonesia. Boycotts have targeted companies based in Denmark and in other nations that reprinted the offensive caricatures.

As Muslims, we need to take a step back and ask ourselves, "What would the Prophet Muhammad do?"

Muslims are taught the tradition of the woman who would regularly throw trash on the prophet as he walked down a particular path. The prophet never responded in kind to the woman's abuse. Instead, when she one day failed to attack him, he went to her home to inquire about her condition.

In another tradition, the prophet was offered the opportunity to have God punish the people of a town near Mecca who refused the message of Islam and attacked him with stones. Again, the prophet did not choose to respond in kind to the abuse.

When he returned to Mecca after years of exile and personal attacks, he did not take revenge on the people of the city, but instead offered a general amnesty.

The Quran also says: "Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching, and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knows best who have strayed from His Path and who receive guidance." (16:125)

Another verse tells the prophet to "show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant." (7:199)

These are the examples that Muslims should follow as they express justifiable concern at the publication of the cartoons.

Conversions

The high profile event of the Pope baptising a Muslim convert to Catholicism has drawn some strong reactions.

The local Italian Muslim leadership voiced their protests and asked why not just have a low profile local parish baptism. They feel that such a media saturated event is a deliberate provocation.

The convert himself, an outspoken critic of Islam argues that while one can convert from Christianity to Islam without fear of negative consequences from the Christian community the same does not seem to be true for those who convert from Islam to Christianity. He felt that the Catholic church should be moAll the schools of Islamic law treat apostasy (ie; leaving Islam) as a serious crime which requires the death penalty to be applied.

As an outsider to Islam I find the apostasy law rather extreme. Is there someone out there who can explain to me why this is so important? I am just trying to understand, that's all.

Blessings

Are we talking about the same God?

Are we talking about the same God? For Muslims and Christians to begin talking with one another about religion, there is a requirement that we share some common assumptions. The first most basic assumption is that we agree that we are talking about the same God. This is not as basic as it seems, for there are those Christians and Muslims who will vehemently assert that the Muslim and Christian God are completely different entities.

Colin Chapman presents a helpful analogy.

Suppose there is a country somwhere in the world where the sun is never clearly visible. People are aware of the sun, because they can see the shape of the sun behind the clouds, and know that the sun is the source of heat. But they can never see the sun in a cloudless sky. Contrast this with people who live in the Mediterranean. They see the sun very clearly, and feel its heat. Is it the same sun for both people in both places? It must of course be the same sun, although each group of people have very different images and experience of it.

If we cannot accept this analogy, we have to think in terms of two completely different astronomical bodies, such as the sun and the moon and assume that Muslims and Christians are talking about two completely diffferent beings. That assumption is likely to make communication between Christians and Muslims extremely difficult, if not impossible.

What do you think?

Are we talking about the same God?

For Muslims and Christians to begin talking with one another about religion, there is a requirement that we share some common assumptions. The first most basic assumption is that we agree that we are talking about the same God. This is not as basic as it seems, for there are those Christians and Muslims who will vehemently assert that the Muslim and Christian God are completely different entities.

Colin Chapman presents a helpful analogy.

Suppose there is a country somwhere in the world where the sun is never clearly visible. People are aware of the sun, because they can see the shape of the sun behind the clouds, and know that the sun is the source of heat. But they can never see the sun in a cloudless sky. Contrast this with people who live in the Mediterranean. They see the sun very clearly, and feel its heat. Is it the same sun for both people in both places? It must of course be the same sun, although each group of people have very different images and experience of it.

If we cannot accept this analogy, we have to think in terms of two completely different astronomical bodies, such as the sun and the moon and assume that Muslims and Christians are talking about two completely diffferent beings. That assumption is likely to make communication between Christians and Muslims extremely difficult, if not impossible.

What do you think?

It's good to talk

I find it hard to find groups of people in Kuwait who are willing to engage in inter faith discussion. Admittedly I think there is a real fear that it will all boil down to having an argument or having our own beliefs minimalised by the other.

But if the real intention is to make genuine friendships (which takes time for sure) then we should not be threatened by exploring our similarities and differences. The more we understand about each other the better we can relate.

As Kuwait has the highest number of bloggers in the world per capita, a blog seems the best place. The Kuwait blogging community is diverse and fascinating and there is plenty going on.

It's good to talk

revq8

Abraham had many sons

EID AL-ADHA commemorates the sacrifice that was required of Abraham . In both the Biblical and the Quranic scriptures Abraham is an esteemed man of the Almighty God who displayed his obedience to God by being willing to ritually slaughter his own son. At the last moment, God intervenes and offers a ram as a substitute for Abraham’s son. The Bible says the son was Isaac and the Muslims say it was Ismael . The point of the story, however, is two-fold. One is that God calls us to obey, Abraham certainly took that obedience to its extreme. Secondly, that we thank God for his provision. Since the beginning of Islam, a ram or a sheep has been ritually sacrificed in remembrance of that event in the life of Abraham.

Abraham is often touted as a unifying motif when it comes to interfaith relations. All three of the world’s monotheistic faiths honour Abraham as a faithful servant of God. Both Arabs and Jews trace their ancestry back to him, and the story of his family is regularly told in synagogues, churches and mosques. His faith in God was unswerving. But more than anything else the story of Abraham focuses on the character of God. God is shown to be true and faithful to his promises to Abraham.

One of the promises that God made to Abraham was to produce many descendants. This seemed unattainable because Abraham was elderly and his wife was past her child bearing years. Yet, many centuries later we do indeed see the physical and spiritual descendants of Abraham numbering more than the grains of sand. As I greet my Muslim friends with Eid Mubarak, I am reminded of our common ancestry and the startling thought that we are related. How on earth do we reconcile centuries of division? I suspect the solution could be found in a sacrificial lamb.

Young People and Faith

Jesus once summarised the divine law into two commandments. “Love God and love your neighbour” was his pithy sound-bite. As the sectarian violence within and between faith communities continue to rage in Iraq and beyond I often speculate as to how we can apply Jesus’ teachings into this arena.



It seems to me that the most effective way is through an educational encounter between young members of different faiths. One project I was involved with in Birmingham was called Young People and Faith. It was designed by an inner city schools worker called Andrew Smith. He drew up an educational program which he felt would help to encounter the ignorance and prejudice which was a daily feature in the life of inner city school students.To see this project in action was a wonderful experience. Two groups of students representing different faiths (on this day it was Christian and Muslim) were to spend the day together.



The morning started with ‘icebreaker’ type questions such as “What kind of music do you enjoy listening to?” “What are your favourite movies?” “What do you do at the weekend?” And so on. They did talk about their religion and described their religious communal life and how they felt and experienced their respective faith. There was no proselytizing but rather a sharing of what God meant to them.



There was also a basic introduction to both faiths given by a representative of that faith. What really united the young people however was their shared sense of injustice and their common concerns about drug abuse, bullying and prejudice.As the day progressed, it was so encouraging to see the atmosphere transform from mutual wariness to a warm and light acceptance. Laughter broke out, jokes were shared.


The end of the day was marked by going out to a bowling alley where the two groups mixing freely now, swapped phone numbers and e-mail addresses with promises of keeping in touch.

For those young people, barriers of ignorance and hostility had been breached with trust and laughter. It is difficult to be prejudiced against someone who is your friend. All this was achieved in the space of one day.



Clearly it will take a lot longer for the damaged young people in places like Iraq and Palestine. It is not impossible though. For example, summer camps bringing together Palestinian youth and Jewish youth have done much to neutralise the hatred fostering in their young hearts towards one another. It is but just a small step in seeking to “Love God and love our neighbour.”



Do you think we will ever see something like this take place in Kuwait?

Any Kuwaiti women going to this?

Can women find unique ways out of war?

New Delhi - Sakena Yacoobi well knows the hardships of Afghan women, caught between a war and the hopelessness of poverty and illiteracy.

Yet on International Women's Day Saturday, the Afghan educator will not ask the world to help Afghan women. Instead, she will ask Afghan women to help the world.

In a time of growing conflict around the world, she believes the wisdom and compassion of women can offer a way out. "Women bring tolerance and patience," she says. "Women can bring solutions – we cannot accomplish that with weapons."
She is one of several hundred prominent female leaders from 45 countries who have come to India this week to seek ways to raise women's voices worldwide, hoping that their ideas – so often ignored – begin to move the world away from war.

It is a unique approach to International Women's Day – and intentionally so, says Dena Merriam, who has organized "Making Way for the Feminine," a five-day conference that began Thursday in Jaipur.

"This is not about empowering women," says Ms. Merriam, who also co-chaired the United Nations' Millennium World Peace Summit in 2000. "It is about how women can transform society to help us find new ways of addressing conflict."

There are men here, too. The goal, participants say, is not to antagonize men. Yet each believes that women bring to the issue of conflict resolution a different perspective. Many liken it to that of a mother, stern but caring, and more open to finding alternatives to violence.

That perspective is sorely needed, they say, as the path of power and aggression has led only to more fighting and division. "The feminine gifts of compassion, empathy, and caring prepare women for the urgent role as leaders and reconcilers," said the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, chairwoman of the Global Peace Initiative for Women, at the opening press conference.
"This is about whether women, with men as their partners, can chart a new course," continues Ms. Campbell, who has worked with leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Bill Clinton.

The outlines of that new course can be seen in the lives of those attending, both men and women.
It is evident in the compassion of Ali Abu Awwad, a Palestinian who has been imprisoned for his family's political activities and whose brother was killed in the second intifada, yet started a foundation for Israelis and Palestinians who have lost relatives in the conflict.

"The idea is to show people that if you are in the peaceful way, you are not alone," he says. "You do not need to be afraid."

These are the voices that this conference hopes to amplify and inspire. Organizer Merriam acknowledges that the conference has an enormous task. The intent is to begin to change how the world thinks about power – spreading the notion that nonviolent solutions are practical and not the fruit of weakness.

Her tools, she says, are the participants themselves. With few women voices in the corridors of power, the hope is to kindle greater awareness and confidence among women so they become more active participants in demanding a solution.

In recognition of the fact that many of the world's conflicts come from a clash of faiths, the conference has an overtly religious theme. It is bringing together female spiritual leaders from all faiths – such as an Islamic scholar, Buddhist nun, Hindu guru, and members of the Christian clergy.

To this end, Merriam hopes the conference will bring a World Council of Women Spiritual Leaders, which would be a mechanism to guide and advance more inclusive solutions to global problems.

Yet many of the attendees say the gathering in itself, regardless of its outcome, enables them to carry out their work.

Yacoobi needs such spiritual refreshment, she says frankly. "Coming here allows me to collect myself from all the things going on in Afghanistan," she says. "This war is destroying our country, our religion, and our faith, but coming here and seeing these people gives me a lot of energy to believe."

A psychologist in the West Bank, Laila Atshan, too, sees the worst of war – wives who have lost husbands and sons in the conflict with Israel. "I will go back stronger to give them strength," she says. For years, she has considered opening an interfaith community center. "I am hoping this will give me the guts to go do it."

New Bishop Visit Kuwait

Bishop Michael Lewis completed his first trip to Kuwait this week. He met with various religious and political leaders and enjoyed the diversity of Kuwait's cultural landscape.

A former Bishop of Middleton in Manchester he particiapted in and led a number of inter-faith events and projects.

One incident which occurred during his visit to Kuwait was completely impromptu and unexpected. While getting out the car in a public carpark we were approached by two women. One of them knew the chaplain and introduced her friend. She was a Kuwaiti Muslim lady who on meeting the Bishop requested him to pray for her. So we stood in the car park and prayed. Two English Christians, an Indian Hindu and a Kuwaiti Muslim. We parted company with warm smiles and farewells.

The best inter-faith events seem to be the spontaneous and unscripted ones. There in a carpark we saw the spirit of God unite us in prayer. How good is that!

Blessings