“Notes of Faith” Concert

On Friday December 4th, the MPO will perform a world premier of Dr. Kima’s piece “Seeds of Hope” for nay (Arabic flute), oud (arabic lute), and symphony orchestra. The piece was written with hope for a better communication, interaction, and collaboration between Muslims and Jewish. As a Jewish music composer, Dr. Kima is honored to feature Syrian nay player Bashir Abdel Al and Palestinian oud player Nizar Al Issa. 

Dr.Kima’s field of research is the amalgamation of Arabic aesthetic principles within Western art music, building bridges through the arts. 

link: http://www.maltaorchestra.com/events/notes-of-faith/#

 

SUMMIT OF WASHINGTON AREA IMAMS AND RABBIS

More than 75 imams, rabbis and Muslim and Jewish activists from across Greater Washington, meeting together on Sunday November 22 at the IMAAM Center Indonesian Mosque, vowed to stand together against hate speech and hate crimes against Muslims, Jews and adherents of other faiths; and agreed to encourage all Washington area houses of worship to sponsor one or more Syrian refugees seeking refuge in the U.S.

 

Omam Mohamed Magid and Rabbi Bruce Lustig, co-conveners of the Summit welcome attendees.

The rabbis and imams also endorsed the idea that mosques and synagogues across the region should form one on one twinning relationships so as to deepen personal connections among their congregants. Role modeling and explaining how ‘twinning’ works for the assembled rabbis and imams at the Summit, were two pairs of twins in northern Virginia which have held many events together as part in FFEU’s Season of Twinning since 2009; Congregation Rodeph Shalom and the McLean Islamic Center and the All-Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS Center) and the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation.

The Summit was co-sponsored by the Greater Washington Muslim-Jewish Forum (GWMJF) an affiliate of FFEU, the Jewish Islamic Dialogue Society (JIDS) and IMAAM Center with support from the Islamic Society of North America, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, the World Organization for Research Development and Education, and the Montgomery County Faith Community Working Group. The event was co-convened by Rabbi Bruce Lustig of the Washington Hebrew Congregation, Imam Mohamed Magid of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, and Dr. Amang Sukasih, President of the IMAAM Center.

 

According to Nadia Hassan of the GWMJF,“there was an evident outpouring of love and solidarity in the room among the Imams and Rabbis- all seemed to be concerned about the growing anti-Muslim sentiments and rhetoric amplified by Islamophobes and several presidential candidates in the media.”  Hassan opened up the discussion with a symbolic reference to how God describes (in the Qur’an) the people of Abraham (Christians, Jews and Muslims) as family.

Daniel Spiro, co-founder of JIDS commented, “This wonderful event, coming at such a difficult moment, was inspiring evidence of the strong commitment by several dozen imams and rabbis across Greater Washington to work together to fight hate speech and to strengthen ties between our communities. Now we need to take the next step and follow up so as to put that commitment to work together into action.”

NY1 Covers Nov. 22nd NYC Event

Check out the NY1 video of the Muslim-Jewish twinning event held at Gramercy in NYC!

The event was co-sponsored by the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, Muslims Against Hunger and The Brotherhood Synagogue. (with: NYC Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee, Peace Islands Institute,Nusantara Foundation, Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality, Peace December, NYPD Muslim Officers Society, Gale A. Brewer, Manhattan Borough President…)

NY1 Article: 

Members of the city’s Jewish and Muslim communities came together over the weekend in a show of solidarity against extremism and bigotry.

They gathered Sunday at the Brotherhood Synagogue in Gramercy.

The annual event is sponsored by the nonprofit “Foundation for Ethnic Understanding”.

“Brotherhood is still the hope of the world and it is the hope of brotherly cooperation that has brought us here together,” said Rabbi Daniel Alder of Brotherhood Synagogue.

“Jews and Muslims, together we are all impacted by the forces of extremism, fanaticism,” said Rabbi Marc Schneier, President of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.

“We are all Paris. We are all American. We are all Western. We are all this world. And anyone being victimized, we all become victims of that,” said Imam Shamsi Ali of the Jamaica Muslim Center and Nusantara Foundation.

The day began with a food drive, where organizers packed food for the city’s homeless.

Check out the video: http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2015/11/23/gramercy-gathering-promotes–cultural–religious-understanding.html

December Twinning Events in Manchester!

See flyers for more details!

Dec. 3, 2015: Withington Girls’ School

 

Dec. 24, 2015: Cheadle Hulme High School

 

‪#‎WeRefuseToBeEnemies‬ ‪#‎SpreadHummusNotHate‬ #Tw15nning

Twinning Event in Manchester Grammar School

Impressive event held in Manchester Grammar School taught the importance of religious tolerance, togetherness and peace between different ethnic communities. The Twinning slogan, “We Refuse To Be Enemies” drove the spirit of the event for over 300 students and several teachers in attendance!

Speakers included Heather Fletcher representing the Muslim Jewish Forum as its Co-Chair and Qaisra Shahraz representing the same forum as an executive member and as the Vice Chair of Faith Network 4 Manchester.

According to Qaisra Shahraz, who helped organize this incredible day of Twinning, the event endured “a lovely and lively atmosphere as we enjoyed eating Hummus and Pitta bread and posing for pictures. Most memorable and happy afternoon.”

The event wishes to thank, “Terrie James, Jane Withel, Dan Farr, the teachers, the two sixth form boys who introduced us and Hannah Salomon from UJIA who has helped to arrange this event.”

Link to Qaisra’s blog: http://qaisrashahraz.com/interfaith-twinning-event-at-manchester-grammar-school/

#WeRefuseToBeEnemies

AJMF Paris Press Release:

Chers Amis et Amies,

Comment ne pas manifester notre émotion, notre soutien et notre compassion à ceux qui ont été touchés de plein fouet par les menées de l’obscurantisme?

Les événements dramatiques que notre pays traverse à nouveau soulignent la pertinence de nos actions et de nos mises en garde. Et si les mesures de prudence et de répression s’imposent, elles ne doivent pas faire oublier le travail de prévention et de fond qui, seul, ramènera la cohésion dans notre société.

Nous saluons l’action de tous ceux qui œuvrent pour notre sécurité, ainsi que celle des associations sœurs qui militent pour le bien vivre ensemble. Sans elles, le repli, la méfiance, la haine et les amalgames deviendraient la règle dans les comportements.

Nous appelons les instances nationales représentatives juives et musulmanes, religieuses ou profanes, à travailler ensemble à l’éradication des fléaux qui minent nos sociétés: le racisme, l’antisémitisme et le racisme antimusulman.

Nous appelons chacun et chacune d’entre vous à nous manifester son soutien, à nous faire connaître, et à être des militants de la rencontre, du dialogue et de la connaissance.

A toutes et à tous, nos vœux de courage dans leur travail pour la paix.

SHALOM et SALAAM. 

 

Le Bureau de l’AJMF Paris

Sun. 22: 2nd Annual Imams and Rabbis Summit in the Washington DC. area

SILVER SPRING, MD: On November 22, 2015 a number of organizations in the Washington, D.C. area will convene a summit of Muslim and Jewish clergy and religious leaders from across the region at the Indonesian Muslim Association in America (IMAAM) Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. This will be the second annual summit of its kind in the Washington D.C. area.

Here is the press release:

Contact: Hamza Khan, 301-851-1173

 

Nov. 19: Twinning Event in Detroit!

More than 100 Muslims and Jews from across Greater Detroit took part in a Muslims and Jews We Refuse to Be Enemies event at the Student Center at Wayne State University on Thursday evening November 19.

Pictured Left to Right: Siham Jaafer, Rabbi Dorit Edut and Samatha Woll of Greater Detorit Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Council

The unity event feature speeches by WSU President M. Roy Wilson, FFEU Muslim-Jewish Program DireImam Mohamed Mardini and Rabbi Norm Roman, two of the pioneers in building relations in Greater Detroit over the past 30 years.

Eviatar Baksis, Israel shaliach at WSU Hillel and Achmed Sabbagh, President of the Arab Student Union at WSU

The event included remarks by leaders of the Jewish, Muslim and Arab student groups at WSU and an awards ceremony for Muslim and Jewish high school students who wrote essays and did art work celebrating diversity and Muslims-Jewish friendship.

Old friends and allies in Detroit: Imam Mohammed Mardini and Rabbi Norm Roman

After a poignant and moving Moment of Silence for the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut, Israel and elsewhere, the event took on a festive, joyful and boundary crossing flavor with Muslim and Jewish participants doing a hora together to music performed by the Kidz Klezmer Group of Greater Detroit, and rapping along with Muslim hip hop performer Omar Aburashed.

Omar Aburashed performs his hip hop composition opposing violence and calling for Interfaith coming together

Kidz Klezmar Group performs Israeli folk song

Teenage winners of the Creative Writing contest display their certificates

In addition to FFEU and GDMJSC, the event was co-sponsored by Ameinu Detroit, Michigan Muslim Community Council, Jewish Community Relations Council, Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, Congregation T’chiya, Islamic Organization of North America, Interfaith Leadership Council of Metro Detroit and others.

#WeRefuseToBeEnemies #Tw15nning #SpreadHummusNotHate

December 2nd: Season of Twinning Event in Manchester!

Make sure to RSVP for the Multi-Faith #Tw15nning event hosted by the Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester! Speakers will be students from different faiths! In attendance will be some lecturers, students & student ambassadors,  as well as some representatives of different faiths, our executive teams for both MJF, FN4M and some members from We Stand Together.

When: December 2, 2015. 1-3pm

Where: Student Chaplaincy, St. Peter’s House

RSVP by Nov. 23: hummus@fn4m.org or spreadhummus.eventbrite.co.uk

Looking forward to an afternoon of “making new friends and helping improve community relations!”

#WeRefuseToBeEnemies #SpreadHummusNotHate

Nov. 22: Season of Twinning Event in Berlin Hosted by The Saalam-Schalom Branch Initiative

Hosted by The Saalam-Schalom Initiative, this year’s brunch is apart of the international “Season of Twinning.” In cooperation with the Foundation for Ethnic Understading (FFEU), Jews and Muslims gather worldwide in November 2015 and declare “We Refuse To Be Enemies”

The event will be held on Sunday, Nov. 22 at the Neuköllner Leuchtturm.

We stand united against racism and antisemitism, and share our reality of solidarity. In times of increasing violence, discrimination and polarization, we call for more proximity, openness and equal participation in society. Exclusion and separation are no alternatives. That is why we invite our neighbors to SaSha’s November brunch, to share voices that too often get lost in the cries of racism.

#Tw15nning #WeRefuseToBeEnemies

Facebook page for Brunch Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/409997339197284/

Facebook page for The Saalam-Schalom Initiative: https://www.facebook.com/salaam.schalom.initiative/