Believe it or not, more proof that relgions can get along!

{Paraphrased from event at UNC Chapel Hill, called “Iftaar in the Sukkah,” an event to explore the holidays of Sukkot and Ramadan, held at sundown to coincide with the breaking of the fast for Muslims present, and at the Sukkah on campus, to allow the Jewish community to perform blessings of the holiday of Sukkot. Event was sponsored by UNC Hillel, the UNC Muslim Students Association, and the UNC Interfaith Alliance. Of note, a quarter of the 100 students in attendance were neither Jewish nor Muslim.}

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As the holiest days of the Muslim and Jewish calendars coincide this September, I reflect on the dual sins we are all guilty off – being scared and staying silent. The first has to do with the opportunities we miss to join hands with our sister faiths, as we cower and worry about entering into another faith’s domain. The second, staying silent, has more to do with the times when hatred and bigotry stares us in the face, and yet we remain speechless since it is directed at someone else.

We offer now, our collective prayer…

Why are we scared to join in worship of One Higher,
And then silent when demagogues try to divide us?


Why are we scared to use the beautiful language of The One Greater, used by our sister faith,
And then silent when leaders corrupt this same language of the Holy Books to
make it seem as if we are sworn enemies?


Why are we scared to see the many things that so unite us, especially in this time of fasting and repentance,
And then silent when one more event – a car bomb here, a civilian casualty
there - is blasted upon our collective conscience by religious and secular media as
further evidence of the hatred we are to have for one another?


Why are we scared to see that our smallness and His Greatness binds us as brothers and sisters through divine lineage,
And then silent when a friend or sermon claims that His Mercy and Favor is but
for a chosen few?


Brothers and sisters,
We cannot be scared
nor
silent
any longer,
allowing hatred to linger,
serving as fatal spiritual stinger (to our heart)


Instead, let us replace fear of our sister faiths with fear of Allah, Adonai, The Creator, The Sustainer of us all.


Let us replace silence with a loud heart, voice, and lives that speak to our common smallness and His Universal Greatness.




Let us close this collective poem and prayer by closing our eyes, bowing our heads, and seeking You in our hearts, being neither scared nor silent in chanting the holy words of us all:
Baruch atah Adonai, elohheinu melech ha’olam
(We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the Universe)

Bismillah irrahman irrahim
(In the name of God/Allah, most Gracious, most Merciful)

Shalom
(Peace)

Salaam
(Peace)

Amen
(Let it be so!)

Amin
(Let it be so!)