Virginia synagogue serves as mosque during Ramazan

[Durran3]

Since in another thread we have Jews throwing Wine on Muslims, i thought i'd share an article thats much more positive
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RESTON: On Friday afternoons, the people coming to pray at this building take off their shoes, unfurl rugs to kneel on and pray in Arabic. The ones that come Friday evenings put on yarmulkes, light candles and pray in Hebrew.

The building is a synagogue on a tree-lined street in suburban Virginia, but for the past few weeks — during the Muslim holy month of Ramazan — it has also been doubling daily as a mosque. Synagogue members suggested their building after hearing the Muslim congregation was looking to rent a place for overflow crowds.

‘People look to the Jewish-Muslim relationship as conflict,’ said All Dulles Area Muslim Society Imam Mohamed Magid, saying it’s usually disputes between the two groups in the Middle East that make news.

‘Here is a story that shatters the stereotype.’

Magid, who grew up in Sudan, said he did not meet someone who was Jewish until after he had moved to the US in his 20s, and he never imagined having such a close relationship with a rabbi. But he said the relationship with the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation has affected him and his members. Beyond being tolerant, the synagogue and its members have been welcoming.

He said one member of the mosque told him, ‘Next time I see a Jewish person I will not look at them the same.’



Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk, who leads the Reform congregation of about 500 families, said the relationship works both ways.

‘You really only get to know someone when you invite them into your home ... you learn to recognize their faces. You learn the names of their children,’ Nosanchuk said.

The actual prayers are held in the building’s social hall, which is used by the synagogue for a range of activities from educational programs to dance classes and receptions.

Both the synagogue and the mosque have a history of sharing space with other religious groups. People coming to Friday night services at the synagogue sometimes park in an adjoining church’s parking lot; on Sundays, sometimes churchgoers park behind the synagogue.

And the mosque has rented space from others since it was founded in 1983.

Members have prayed in a recreation center, a high school, an office building and, for a long time, a church. As the mosque has grown, however, it has needed more space. In 2002 the community opened its own building in Sterling, Virginia. It holds 900 people for prayers, but the community has satellite locations to accommodate more people: a hotel, a banquet hall and even a second synagogue, Beth Chaverim Reform congregation, in Ashburn, Virginia.

The community began renting space at the two synagogues in 2008. They began holding daily prayers at the Ashburn synagogue and prayers on Friday afternoons, the week’s main prayer service, at the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation.

This is the first year, however, they have rented space at the synagogue for the daily prayers for Ramazan, which began at the end of August. More than 100 people come to the daily services, which are held from nine p.m. to 10:45 p.m. except for Friday, when the services are in the afternoon. The society pays the synagogue $300 a day.

The partnership isn’t entirely new. The two communities have held occasional events together going back a decade: dialogues and community service. Still, some members of both communities were unsure of how things would work at first.

‘When they rented the place, I was surprised, but then after that when I came here and saw how nicely everything is set up and how well done it is ... I am very happy with it,’ said mosque member Ambreen Ahmed.

Now, mosque members sometimes greet the rabbi with the Hebrew greeting ‘Shalom’; he’ll answer back with the Arabic equivalent, ‘Salaam.’ Nosanchuk spoke at Friday afternoon prayers recently. The imam spoke at Friday evening Shabbat services.

Both groups say the relationship won’t be over when Ramazan ends in North America over the weekend. The rabbi and imam are talking about possibly even making a joint trip to the Middle East, and Friday prayers will still be held at the synagogue.

Magid says some mosque members, in fact, have permanently moved from the mosque to the synagogue.

‘Where have you been?’ he asked one man who used to pray regularly at the mosque.

‘You saw me in the synagogue,’ the man replied.

‘All the time?’ the imam asked.

‘It’s cozy, it’s nice. Your parking lot is overcrowded ... and I like to be there,’ the man said.

The imam joked maybe the man should stay for the Sabbath service.

Said the imam: ‘That shows you how comfortable they have become.’ — AP

DAWN.COM | World | Virginia synagogue serves as mosque during Ramazan

 

[dabong1]

Muslim takes a subway beating to help Jew
Muslim takes a subway beating to help Jews - Telegraph

This is a story of bravery and goodwill across religious divides, and normally cynical New Yorkers have taken the hero to their hearts.

When Hassan Askari saw two couples on a subway train being pummelled by a white gang yelling anti-Semitic slurs in response to a Jewish festival greeting, he knew he could not turn the other cheek.


The small-framed American Muslim accountancy student jumped to the defence of the Jewish group, prompting the bulky thugs and their female hangers-on to turn their fury on him.

As the assailants pinned him to the wall and punched him viciously, Walter Adler, one of those initially set upon, was able to break away to pull the emergency alarm. Police arrested the attackers at the next station.

Mr Askari, 20, who comes from a Bangladeshi noble family that had close ties to the British Raj, has now become firm friends with Mr Adler, 23. The two even sat down to break bread at the end of the Hannukah, the Festival of Lights.

His brave intervention has earned him hero status in New York and one newspaper headline read simply: "Peace Train". But the modest Mr Askari told The Sunday Telegraph that he was amazed at the fuss.

"My parents brought me up to do the right thing and my religion teaches me to help my fellow man," he said. "I would have done the same thing for anyone. Religion and race have nothing to do with it. I have friends who are Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists. Everyone's the same to me."

Mr Adler, also a student, ended up with a broken nose, stitched lip and a battered face while Mr Askari suffered two black eyes and heavy bruising. "A random guy jumped in and helped a Jewish guy on Hannukah - that's a miracle," Mr Adler said after the attack.

According to Mr Askari, the problem started when the gang loudly yelled "Merry Christmas" and one of Mr Adler's party answered "Happy Hannukah".

This innocent remark apparently prompted a furious response, witnesses told police.

"This gang were already being noisy and obnoxious and then they just lost it," Mr Askari said. "They were cursing and spitting on Walter and the others. They said: 'Don't wish us happy Hannukah. This is a Christian country and Hannukah is when the Jews killed Jesus'."

Mr Adler's girlfriend Maria Parsheva, 23, gave a similar account, recalling: "They said: 'You dirty Jews, you killed Jesus on Hannukah, you should all die'."

At this stage, the gang of more than 10, including two women, attacked.

"Walter was getting badly beaten and the girls were attacking the girls. It was crazy," said Mr Askari. "I knew I had to do something. I tried to pull them off and I was shouting 'What's wrong with you people?' Then they grabbed me and pushed me against the wall and beat me up, but thankfully Walter was able to pull the emergency cable and the police were waiting by the time we stopped at the next station."

But Mr Askari, who is 5'7" tall and weighs just 10 stone, was saddened that other passengers in the packed carriage did nothing.

"I just hope that if people see something like this in the future, they will step in," he said.

And he hopes his actions may do something to change the minds of those who view Islam negatively. "If this changes one person's perceptions, I'll be pleased," he said.

Police arrested eight men and two women and have charged them with offences including assault, menacing and inciting a riot. Prosecutors may add hate crime charges which carry heavier sentences.

Mr Jirovec, 19, is to start a six-month sentence in January for an attack on two black men. But he denied the latest incident was racist, saying he did not know the others were Jewish.

He also claimed Mr Adler's party were drunkenly taunting his group, shouting: "We killed Jesus." Hate crime complaints have soared by 20 per cent in the last 12 months in New York, to the alarm of civic leaders.

 

[Awesome]

I know a church thats right beside a mosque in Virgina where they open up their parking lot for Muslims during the Eid prayers