VISIT TO Masjid Salaam mosque
The past few weeks have been momentous times for our country and our communities. Many of us have been feeling unsettled and it has been noticeable once more how many people have taken to the streets to express their emotions. For example, the ribbons on display outside Central Methodist Church in Lune Street have been the focus of reflection, regret and even grief. It is good that at times like these we can express what we truly feel and seek to stand alongside those who are hurting.
In late June, the Church Council at Fulwood Methodist
Church decided it wanted to make a gesture of love to our neighbours and friends
who attend the Masjid Salaam Mosque on
Watling Street Road. We approached the mosque officials to see if it was
possible for a small group of us to visit the mosque on Sunday 25 June after our
morning service to present them with the flowers we had used in our worship that
morning. We wanted them to be regarded as symbols of our respect, friendship and
goodwill at a time when many were hurting, not least after the horrific event
outside Finsbury Park Mosque. We let them know that we valued their presence,
rejoiced in their community and its faithfulness and acknowledged that we are
all children of God. Very swiftly we received a beautiful reply from Amjad
Yoosuf on behalf of all at Masjid Salaam. He said we would all be welcome and
that all had been very much moved by this gesture of friendship, gesture and
goodwill.
And so it was that on that Sunday morning 25 June, around 15 of us, young and old, walked the short distance to the Mosque; we didn’t know quite what to expect. On the way to Church some of us had seen the large numbers attending the Mosque for prayer at the start of Eid (the choice of date was purely coincidental) but by the time we arrived, the mosque was peace and calm. It is a beautiful building and I would encourage everyone to find an opportunity to visit. We could not have been received more graciously and it was good to present the flowers, to make and hear speeches and to receive gifts.
We were all invited to stay for an Eid celebration which had been arranged for refugees from Syria. Those who had no other commitments (or had not left their ovens on) did so and enjoyed fine food and good conversation.
We left expressing the determination of the Church and the Mosque to keep in contact and to find new and better ways of serving the community in which we all live. That will not always be easy, we have to acknowledge our differences but also, in the words of Jo Cox MP, to recognise how much more we have in common. God moves in mysterious ways and, as we had sung at Church that morning, ‘There is a wideness in God’s mercy....’
Ken Wales
Have a look at