Mormons, Muslims break the fast in Southern California (Mormon "interfaith outreach)

Mormon Times ^ | October 10, 2010 | Barbara Evans Openshaw

[greyfoxx39]

 

In Costa Mesa, Calif., Mormons were invited to break the fast with area Muslims during Ramadan. Southern California Latter-day Saints participated in at least 10 different interfaith iftars (break-the-fasts) throughout the area.

Mormons and Muslims in Southern California recently broke the fast together at several events scheduled during Ramadan.

Ramadan is a 30-day religious period during which Muslims fast from before sunrise to about sunset. It is a common Muslim practice to invite people of other faiths to join them in an interfaith iftar, or fast-breaking dinner, one evening during Ramadan. Southern California Latter-day Saints participated in at least 10 different interfaith iftars throughout the area.

Sabiha Quidwai, Islamic Society of Orange County (ISOC) executive assistant, explained that Ramadan is "a month of increased blessings and spiritual upliftment," and it is "the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, and it is the month when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk each day." She said, "The iftar, or fast breaking, takes place at sunset."

Besides these events, the Garden Grove, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach and Temecula stakes offered to host special break the fast events with their Muslim neighbors who in turn invited the LDS members to hold the event at the local mosques.

At the iftars, both Muslim and LDS leaders spoke at a brief service, after which the Muslims participated in evening prayers. Following the evening prayer, the groups met together for a meal, provided by the Muslims. There were members of other faiths at each of the dinners also, along with city officials.

In keeping with Muslim tradition, the call to prayer occurred at the time that the sun set that evening. Participants then broke their fasts with dates, bread or other simple items, before proceeding to evening prayer.

The LDS visitors were invited to observe the prayers. LDS women who attended wore head scarves, consistent with Muslim dress standards for women. After the evening prayer, the groups shared a large meal together. The dinners featured traditional Muslim foods such as lamb, couscous, rice and dates. About two dozen LDS members from each of the four stakes attended the events.

At each event, a member of the stake presidency addressed the group.

David Price, second counselor in the Garden Grove Stake presidency, told members assembled at the ISOC that LDS members believe that fasting helps members become more dependent on spiritual things, provides them with inspiration and helps members conquer challenges. He also discussed the role that fast offerings play in the LDS Church.

Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, religious director of the ISOC, reminded the audience that Jesus was fasting when he received some revelations. He related that Muslims believe fasting helps them appreciate God's gifts, including food and water, and inspires them to use such gifts carefully. He also noted that Muslims appreciate the opportunity they have to fast willingly, while many people in the world are forced to go without food.

President Weatherford Clayton of the Newport Beach Stake, President Mike Zundel of the Mission Viejo Stake, and Larry Slusser, second counselor in the Temecula Stake presidency, also addressed Muslims and Mormons assembled at mosques in their areas.

"From my perspective, I think it is a remarkable event when a stake president of the church is given the opportunity to teach the principles of the gospel to those of the Muslim faith," commented Greg Briggs, second counselor in the Mission Viejo Stake presidency. "It was equally remarkable that many in the leadership of the church in Mission Viejo sat at dinner, in a mosque, with many of their Muslim neighbors and learned more about their faith."

Imam Yassir Fazaga of the Mission Viejo mosque, who participated in a church-sponsored tour of Salt Lake City earlier this year, spoke warmly of his visit and of what he had learned about the LDS Church, particularly the church's extensive humanitarian program.

"Do you know what we call the Mormons? We call them Muslim Christians because we have so much in common," said Imam Fazaga. "We only wish that we were as well organized for doing good as the Mormons."

The events came about as the result of outreach efforts by Steve Gilliland, who serves as the director of Muslim relations for the church's Public Affairs Council of Southern California, and Warren Inouye, who serves as the director of Muslim relations for the Orange County area.

"The dinners were important steps in an effort to introduce real Mormons to real Muslims so that the dialogue between the two faiths can proceed at a personal level," said Inouye, who noted that it was the first time that many of the LDS members had entered a mosque.

Gilliland noted that while numerous groups across the United States have recently been vocal in their opposition to Muslims, "We were privileged to break bread with our wonderful Muslim neighbors, reaffirming our commitment to allow all people 'to worship how, where, or what they may.'"

Mormons and Muslims share many practices and standards saidr Gilliland, including health codes, a focus on modesty, belief in the importance of family and an expectation that members will improve their lives as they live the teachings of their religion.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

I testify that you just called ejonesie22 “dishonest” again.

PROVE IT or RETRACT IT.

Your post is character assassination by slander, bearing
false witness against another FReeper. You have posted
that over and over and over.

This is a repeated pattern in your posts that is against
the Religion Forum Rules, which are listed on the Religion Moderator’s page. You consistently violate the rules against mind-reading, imputing motives and making it personal. Please read them and comply.

Why are you even here, if you are going to represent your
faith by dishonorable postings??? It is bizarre.

ampu

cc: courtesy ping to rm for mentioning you

[Paragon Defender]

His dishonesty is calling me dishonest. I have not been.

Typing in all caps and stamping your virtual feet change nothing.

Good grief it’s like arguing with a toddler in here sometimes.

[fishtank]

Your church is guilty of identity theft..........

[fishtank]

“Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, religious director of the ISOC, reminded the audience that Jesus was fasting when he received some revelations.”

Ummmmmmmmmmm,

this is QUITE alarming ..............

who of us here recalls just who it was who gave Jesus those “revelations” while he was fasting in the desert...........??????????????

Oh, by the way, I AIN’T talkin’ about the last book of the Bible kind of “revelations”..........

Dr. Siddiqi just accidentally “revealed” a WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE bunch of truth about who it was who might have given old Mo’ his “revelations” as well.

[Paragon Defender]

Let me see if I can help out with what some seem to be having a hard time grasping.

In High School I put off reading most of a novel until the last minute. I stayed up really late trying to read it all and I finished the book.

The next day I took the test and found out later I got a D. You know why? Because I didn’t READ the novel.

If it was allowed, I probably could have tried harder, truly and sincerely read it, and gotten a good grade.

The proof I didn’t “really” read it was my bad grade.

Maybe that will help the regular posters understand but who knows, it’ll just as likely get twisted into something else to complain about. I tried.

[svcw]

Last minute, huh? I have been reading and involved with lds in some fashion since the fall of 1962, not very last minute.

[Paragon Defender]

Last minute, huh? I have been reading and involved with lds in some fashion since the fall of 1962, not very last minute.

---

/boggle

Way to entirely miss the point.

See ya later!

[svcw]

You have a point?
I have told you I read the links and you have said I have not and/or skimmed. I am telling you again I know lds because of history and I have read your links.
God says flee, lds is not My Church.

[greyfoxx39]

I have to wonder if this thread shows a NEW mormon method of proselytizing....which appears to consist of lyin'for the lard, denial of the lie over and over, attackin' and slanderin' others and of course, the usual tack that "mormons are so speshul that they don't have to follow the rules of ordinary mortals bein' as how they are little gods in embryo.

In the meantime, their leaders are holdin' hands and singin' Kumbaya with the muslim muslims and the Obama muslim.

Talk about bogglin' the mind!

Oh, WAIT! Did I say a NEW method. Guess not.

McConkie on Christian "heresies"

"Now, in order to have things in perspective, let me identify the three greatest heresies in all Christendom. They do not prevail among us, fortunately, but they are part of the gross and universal darkness that covers the earth and blots out from the minds of men those truths upon which salvation rests.

The greatest truth known to man is that there is a God in heaven who is infinite and eternal; that he is the creator, upholder, and preserver of all things; that he created us and the sidereal heavens and ordained and established a plan of salvation whereby we might advance and progress and become like him. The truth pertaining to him is that he is our Father in heaven, that he has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's, that he is a literal person, and that if we believe and obey his laws we can gain the exaltation that he possesses. Now that is the greatest truth and the most glorious concept known to the human mind, and the reverse of it is the greatest heresy in all Christendom.

The Christian heresy, where God is concerned, is that Deity is a spirit essence that fills the immensity of space; that he is three beings in one; that he is uncreated, incorporeal, and incomprehensible; that he is without body, parts, or passions; that he is a spirit nothingness that is everywhere and nowhere in particular present. These are concepts written in the creeds had in the churches of the world.

The second greatest truth in all eternity pertains to the divine sonship of the Lord, Jesus Christ. It includes the eternal verity that he was foreordained in the councils of eternity to come to earth and be the redeemer of men, to come and ransom men from the temporal and spiritual death brought upon them by the fall of Adam. This second greatest truth is that Christ worked out the infinite and eternal atoning sacrifice because of which all men are raised in immortality and those who believe and obey are raised also unto eternal life.

Now the second greatest heresy in all Christendom is designed to destroy the glories and wonders of the infinite and eternal atonement. It is that men are saved by some kind of lip service, by the grace of God, without work and without effort on their part.

The third greatest truth known to mankind is that the Holy Spirit of God is a revelator and a sanctifier, that he is a personage of spirit, that his assigned ministry and work in the eternal Godhead is to bear record of the Father and of the Son, to reveal them and their truths to men. His work is to cleanse and perfect human souls, to burn dross and evil out of human souls as though by fire. We call that the baptism of fire.

Now the opposite of that is the third greatest heresy in all Christendom. It is that revelation has ceased, that God's mouth is closed, that the Holy Ghost no longer inspires men, that the gifts of the Spirit were done away with after the death of the ancient apostles, and that we no longer need to follow the course they charted."

Link

Note: You don't have to follow the link to see the lies. I just post the text...it's simple, really!

[greyfoxx39]

What is that old saying..”like attracts like”?

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

Islamic And Mormonism Similarities

From: http://www.bible.ca/islam/islamic-mormonism-similarities.htm

Similarities between Joseph Smith and Muhammad:

The followers of Muhammad and Joseph Smith both killed innocent "infidel" on the same date of 9/11. On September 11, 1857, Mormon militia massacred about 140 men, women and children under the authority of Brigham Young. However 17 very young children were spared and adopted into Mormon families. They were in fact sold to the highest Mormon family bidder and resold and traded many times afterwords. This event is called "The Mountain Meadows" massacre. Mormon leaders engaged in a deliberate rewriting of history to deny they were behind the murders. On September 11, 2001 Muhammad's followers, using the Koran as a guide, sent two airplanes into the World Trade Center killing 3000 innocent men, women and children. Muslims today have a PhD in rewriting history and preach in the mosques that Jews were actually driving the planes, not Muslim terrorists. Both were visited by an angel. Joseph Smith was visited by the angel "Moroni" and Muhammad by Gabriel. Galatians 1:6-9 says, "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed."

Both were given visions.

Both were told that no true religion existed on the earth. In the published account of his life, Joseph Smith related that he became very disturbed when he was a youth because of the "strife among the different denominations," and this "cry and tumult" led him to ask God "which of all the sects were right — and which I should join." He was told that he must "join none of them, for they were all wrong... that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt..." (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith 2:8-19) N. J. Dawood says that Mohammed was also concerned with the fact that the Jews and Christians had "divided themselves into schismatic sects." In the scriptures given by Mohammed, we read: "Yet the Sects are divided concerning Jesus.... Truly, the unbelievers are in the grossest error." (The Koran, translated by N. J. Dawood, Surah 19, p. 34) In Surah 30, page 190, this warning appears: "Do not split up your religion into sects, each exulting in its own beliefs." In Surah 3, page 398, we read: "The only true faith in Allah's sight is Islam. Those to whom the Scriptures [i.e., Jews and Christians] were given disagreed among themselves through jealousy only after knowledge had been given them."

Both were to restore the long lost faith as the one true religion. Islam makes claim that Adam and Abraham were Muslims, a claim that is as ridiculous as it is undocumented from either history or archaeology. Mormons make the unsubstantiated claim that the church in the first century were Mormon.

Both wrote a book inspired by God.

Both claimed to be illiterate or uneducated and used this as proof the book was inspired. "How could an illiterate man write the Koran or the Book of Mormon?" Joseph Smith is claimed to have only grade three education. Both claimed the Bible was lost, altered, corrupted and unreliable.

Both claimed their holy book was the most correct and perfect book on earth.

Both claimed that their new "Bible" was based upon a record stored in heaven. With Islam, it is the "mother book" that resides in heaven with God. With Mormonism, it is the golden Nephi plates that the angel Moroni took back to heaven. Both claim that the version we have in our hands today are identical to what the prophet revealed and that parts are not lost, altered and corrupted. Of course the proof that these claims are invalid is found in two books. The Mormon claim is proven false by a book called "3913 Changes to Book of Mormon" by Sandra Tanner. The Islamic claim is proven false by a book (In Arabic language) called, "Making Easy the Readings of What Has Been Sent Down" by Muhammad Fahd Khaaruun. Both books show that the copy of the book of Mormon and the Koran used today is different from what was originally used when each religion was started.

Both claimed to be a final prophet of God.

Both claimed they were persecuted because of their pure faith.

Both were polygamists who had many wives.

Both borrowed from paganism/polytheism. Muhammad incorporated that polytheistic moon god called "Allah" and "Allah's three daughters" into Islam. Basically Muhammad chose Allah from within 350 known gods that were worshipped in Arabia and proclaimed the moon god to be the greatest and only God. Smith borrowed from a doctrine called "pyramidology" and the Masons and other magic systems. Both received "after the fact corrective revelations" from God. Muhammad retracted the Satanic verses and Mormons retracted Smith's divine order mandating polygamy. But for Mormons it there is even a closer parallel. Sounds exactly like Muhammad and his satanic verses.

"As many false reports have been circulated respecting the following work, and also many unlawful measures taken by evil designing persons to destroy me, and also the work, I would inform you that I translated by the gift and power of God, and caused to be written, one hundred and sixteen pages, the which I took from the Book of Lehi... which said account, some person or persons have stolen and kept from me, notwithstanding my utmost exertions to recover it again — and being commanded of the Lord that I should not translate the same over again, for Satan had put it into their hearts to tempt the Lord their God, by altering the words, that they did read contrary from that which I translated and caused to be written; and if I should bring forth the same words again, or, in other words, if I should translate the same over, they would publish that which they had stolen, and Satan would stir up the hearts of this generation, that they might not receive this work: but behold, the Lord said unto me, I will not suffer that Satan shall accomplish his evil design in this thing: therefore thou shalt translate from the plates of Nephi, until ye come to that which ye have translated... I will shew unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the Devil." (Book of Mormon, 1830 edition, Preface)

Immediately after the death of Muhammad and Smith, a fight broke out from among the "faithful converts" as to who would succeed Muhammad and Smith. Both groups were plunged into irreparable division that has endured ever since. Islam and Mormonism both have squabbles among themselves as to who is the one true splinter group of their prophet!

Mormons, contrary to the Bible, "baptize the dead" by gathering genealogies of all men who lived on earth. This contradicts the Bible: "But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless." Tit 3:9 While the Bible says avoid focusing in Genealogies, the Mormon church makes it their central focus of mission. Mormons have even been criticized for baptizing, by proxy, the Jews had died in Nazi Holocaust camps. When lists of genealogies are collected, living Mormons are baptized, on behalf of, those on the lists, who have already died. In this way, Mormons view every man who lived, as being Mormons. In the same way Muslims claim that all men are born Muslims and when they learn the truth of Christianity, they are apostatizing from their first faith. Muslims re-write history by proclaiming Jesus and the Apostles were Muslims in a similar way Mormons baptize Jews (for example) with the expectation they will be Mormons in the next life. Yet gathering of large genealogical lists no more makes dead people Mormons in the next life, than re-writing history makes Jesus into a Muslim.

Both the Islam and Mormon religions have those who follow the "original doctrine" of the founding leaders and like these founding leaders, are violent, polygamists, and have revelations justifying their evil actions.

Both Muslims and Mormons (and Jehovah's Witnesses) have progressive revelation. Jw’s call it "new light". Muslims call it "Nasikh". Jehovah’s Witnesses were once instructed to celebrated Christmas, birthdays and salute the flag, but "new light" changed all that. Mormons like all Muslims, were originally polygamists until "The Manifesto" against polygamy came as a revelation to John Taylor, over 40 years after Smith's death, on the eve of the US government outlawing the practice of polygamy. New revelation always replaces older revelation that became inconvenient to the prophet.

[greyfoxx39]

Good post, thanks. BTW, your blog looks interesting..will visit it again.

[svcw]

Interesting.

[svcw]

Great pictures on your blog.

[RnMomof7]

They deserve each other.. when the blind lead the blind they both fall in the pit

[sport]

Watch the Mormons start losing their heads.

[Elsie]

. "It was equally remarkable that many in the leadership of the church in Mission Viejo sat at dinner, in a mosque, with many of their Muslim neighbors and learned more about their faith."

Just wait until the MUSLIMs learn what MORMONism says about THEIR faith!

[Elsie]

We call them Muslim Christians because we have so much in common," said Imam Fazaga.

Yeah; that sounds about right!

[Elsie]

The very next day, however, Kornacki penned another article wherein he concludes Romney is still the favorite for the GOP nomination."

Oh?

WHOSE favorite?

[Elsie]

Muslim Garments Are More Fashionable

Oh YEAH???