Thanks to Our Muslim Neighbors

It only required an invitation.

Last fall  the niece of one of the charter members of Faith Lutheran dropped by the church on a Sunday morning and asked for a few minutes of my time between services. At first, I thought she was concerned about her aunt who had recently lost her husband. I was quite surprised to discover that she was actually acting as an ambassador to our parish from her optician, who happened to be on the board of the Muslim Youth Center of Philadelphia. Dr. Iftikar Chaudhry, a Pakistani American, was issuing an invitation to the Christians of Far Northeast Philly: Please come and meet us and be our neighbors.

The Muslim Youth Center has been open for a few years now at the site of what was once St. Luke's United Church of Christ, just around the corner from Faith. Our UCC friends--always active partners in the Far Northeast Ministerium--have sold their much-loved but now too expensive building and moved to a storefront. The availability of the former church property answered the prayers of the Muslim community which had been looking for a permanent home for several years. 

I was first told about the sale of the UCC church by St. Luke's pastor, my friend and honored colleague, the Rev. Terri McNamara. Terri was initially a little worried that there might be some neighborhood backlash to the sale. After all, this is post-911 America, a place where suspicions and prejudices still abound in the mostly Caucasian and Roman Catholic Far Northeast of the City of Brotherly Love. I am happy to report, however, that in the time the MYCP has occupied its new home there have been no overt acts of vandalism or threats of violence leveled against it. At least not to my knowledge.

Unfortunately, there has not been much interaction between the Muslim and Christian communities in this neighborhood. President Trump's highly-touted but unconstitutional ban on immigration from largely Muslim nations has not exactly got us all singing Kum By Yah. So: Dr. Chaudhry reached out and invited the Christians to dinner.

Well, to be honest, it wasn't specifically a dinner invitation even if that's how it turned out. The invitation was just to make contact. Through a series of emails, I was put in touch with the MYCP's Director of Education, Madiha Irfan. Madiha is a second-generation Pakistani American who, if not for her hijab, would be taken instantly as a typical young American woman (And perhaps the day will  soon come when the hijab is seen as just as "typical" as any other type of head covering!). She has a delightfully sweet, unassuming "kid-sister" personality which makes her immediately lovable. She is however, a scholar of formidable proportions. She holds a Harvard Master of Divinity degree and speaks several languages fluently. It doesn't take one long to recognize her superior intellect. Madiha invited me to meet her at the MYCP to plan an event to bring our religious tribes together. I met with her and with Teresa Hadjali, a social worker who holds two masters degrees and is a convert from Roman Catholicism to Islam. Madiha suggested that the theme of our event should be "Neighborly Kindness," and we agreed that it should be held some time between Lent and Ramadan. 

At Teresa's suggestion, we added the Jewish community to our get-together in the person of a brilliant scholar and irresistibly ebullient individual, Dr. Saundra Sterling Epstein, the Director of BeYachad and Co-Presdident of the Cheltenham Area Multi-Faith Council. Dr. Epstein is affectionately known as "Sunnie," and anyone who meets her will know this nickname is more than appropriate as a more radiant personality than hers does not exist on this planet. 

Fast forward to May 6th. A dozen or so members of my parish came to meet our Muslim hosts. The Jewish tradition was represented by the husband and mother-in-law of one of my members. The MYCP community had prepared a banquet for us with decorated tables, a buffet, and warm handshakes and words of welcome. I won't describe the program in detail, but I will say that after moving presentations by Sunnie and Madiha there was much hospitality, much talking, much hugging, much joy, and much better understanding. Also much eating. All the participants agreed that the three monotheistic faiths represented teach that we, as people of faith, are bound by religious duty to love our neighbors. In meeting, greeting, and eating (in addition to a tour of the MYCP's beautiful worship space), we put names and faces to the "other." We came as strangers, but parted as friends.

The following morning, members of my church council began to discuss how we could include our Muslim neighbors in our community activities. There is talk of a joint anti-addiction workshop, a health fair, and a movie night. All the participants from my congregation seemed to be glad that they came, and there is now a strong desire to continue the connection. The ice has most certainly been broken.

I am extremely grateful to Dr. Chaudhry, Madiha, Teresa, and Sunnie for this opportunity to push back the powers of darkness and ignorance just a little bit further, and crack open the door for the light of human connectedness. 

I like to think we made God smile.