ParliaMentors Alumni Host Iftar for Community

  On Wednesday 15th June Parliamentors Alumna Masarat Daud, and 3FF’s Ben Shapiro, hosted an Iftar at the 3FF office for members of the local community and 3FF’s wider network. Near Neighbours kindly supported the dinner along with contributions from 3FF members of staff.

The evening began with Masarat explaining her background and how Ramadan’s meaning has changed as she has grown and moved around the world. She also shared a Koranic story of Mohammed’s journey from Mecca to Madina called the ‘hijra’ and how it manifests in our life as a lesson of letting go of the past, of what holds us back and to embrace a more positive approach to life.

Afterwards, everybody shared their experiences of food, fasting and sacrifice in their faith traditions. For some people it was about community and coming together after a shared experience, for others it was a test to keep their desires and temptations at bay, and some shared that it was a process of remembering G-d in their life more distinctly than on normal days.

After that, our guest speaker, Halima Gosai-Hussain from the Inclusive Mosque Initiative (IMI) sounded the call to prayer, and we all broke our fasts on a date, fruit juice and a truly bountiful feast! We also shared a cheesecake as it was just after Shavuot, a Jewish festival where cheesecake is traditionally eaten. Pleasingly, despite there being far too much food, (over-hospitality seems to be a cultural universal) nothing was wasted as the left-overs were taken to a local homeless shelter.

After Halima had finished leading prayers, she gave us a fascinating insight into why she had started working on the IMI. Her words highlighted firstly the need to come together in love and respect rather than tolerance. And equally importantly that it is down to each person to reconcile their holy books with their personal practises. This led to some very deep sharing and reflection from attendees on their ability to reconcile how their own observance differs sometimes from what is written, and the need to bear that in mind when one does not understand why others practise their faith in a way that at first seems bewildering.

Posted by ParliaMentors Alumni Network

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