Posted on 08/13/2007 4:37:16 PM PDT by NYer
WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. (CNS) -- In late July, carloads of curious Catholics caravanned north from their church to a mosque in the next county.
Three dozen Catholics who regularly attend Mass at the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement's Graymoor Spiritual Life Center in Garrison accepted a Muslim visitor's invitation to attend services at Masjid Al-Noor, his mosque in Wappingers Falls.
Entering the two-story white frame building, the visitors placed their shoes alongside their host's on wire racks lining one wall of the foyer.
The women, already modestly covered from chin to ankle, pulled on scarves to cover their hair. The men were directed through double doors to a large simple, rug-covered room on the first floor and the women were invited upstairs to a balcony overlooking the same prayer room.
The walls of the prayer room were sparsely decorated with metal plaques proclaiming God's greatness in Arabic, a large clock and several bookshelves with various editions of the Quran and devotional books. The front of the room had a small, raised carpeted platform for the imam, the religious scholar who led the service.
People greeted one another quietly and lined up, shoulder to shoulder, in rows that stretched across the room. Everyone faced east, the direction of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Islam's holy city. Folding chairs in the back of the two prayer areas were used by people who had difficulty sitting and kneeling on the floor, or accomplishing the deep bows that punctuated the prayers.
Muslims are required to pray five times a day and men are obliged to attend a communal service on Fridays. Women are not required to interrupt their routines to go to the mosque for Friday prayer. Three-quarters of the more than 200 people who attended one recent Friday service at Masjid Al-Noor were men.
The 45-minute service was conducted in spoken and intoned Arabic, with three portions in English: a short reflection on the reading from the Quran, intercessory prayers and communal announcements.
At one Friday service, Imam Mohammed Asil Khan chose to speak on a Scripture passage, or "sura," that described the "Miracles of Jesus and the Miracles of Mohammed." He later explained that Muslims consider Jesus to be a prophet, but not divine.
The Catholic visitors told Catholic News Service they were grateful for the opportunity to attend the services and speak with members of the congregation.
"Our hosts were very welcoming and it was insightful to have casual conversation about being Muslim and learning about the diversity within their own community," said Ruth Ann McAndrews.
She was particularly interested in the discussion of the "challenge of instilling each religion's traditions and faith in the youth through Sunday school and after-school programs."
"The thing that struck me," said Dan Donnelly, "was the commonality that pervades. We have significant doctrinal differences. They don't believe in the Trinity or in the divinity of Jesus, but we have a common father who created us and we should all love one another."
He was also intrigued by the lack of a hierarchy and came to a better understanding of the role of the imam.
"I thought of the imams as the priesthood," he said, "but I learned that they are religious scholars who are chosen by the community to be teachers. If an imam is not available, the people can choose another person to lead the service."
Joyce Evans said, "I left there knowing for certain that our faiths could make us closer to each other. Praying with the Muslims can't take anything away from Catholicism. In fact, it enhances my Catholicism to honor them and work with them."
She continued, "You can read about Islam in a book, but to see the fervor of their devotion really touched me and I came away being a better Catholic."
Most of the worshippers at Masjid Al-Noor are Sunni Muslims, although Shiites are welcome and constitute a small percentage of the congregation, according to Imam Khan. There is no official membership roll, he said, so it is hard to estimate the size of the congregation.
The worship community represents 26 different countries and includes a small number of converts. Imam Khan is a Pakistani who holds master's degrees in Arabic and Islamic studies. He has a full-time association with the mosque.
Atonement Father James J. Gardiner, director of the Graymoor Spiritual Life Center, organized the visits, which came out of a December 2006 event at the center.
"At our Advent vespers, we invited people from different traditions to speak. We had Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Christian Missionary Alliance and Muslim speakers," he said. "At the time, Umar H. Ahmad was the president of the Mid-Hudson Islamic Association, which worships at Masjid Al-Noor.
"Dr. Ahmad spoke 'In Praise of Mary' and at the end of his talk he invited the participants to visit his mosque, attend services and enjoy fellowship with the imam and other members of the congregation," the priest said. So two visits were scheduled in July.
Imam Khan expressed interest in making a reciprocal visit to Graymoor. "Quran tells us that how you deal with your neighbors is very important," he said.
Wonder what they’ll come up with next week?
Now as to the ridiculous notion that Our Lady of Fatima (actually Our Lady of the Rosary) is Mohammed's daughter, I end with the prayer Our Lady told the little children to pray:
"O my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy Mercy."
Good post. Though I should clarify that 80,000 people didn’t see Our Lady, but they did see the sun dance.
Amen.
So you're saying that tolerating a little lie today doesn't lead to tolerating a big lie tomorrow?
Get a clue.
BTW, you're confusing the Protocols with the "Passover blood libel". The Protocols alleged a secret Jewish conspiracy to take over the world.
Of course, Jack Chick says the same thing about the Vatican.
They forgot the part where the imam invited them to join him in saying a traditional muslim prayer for peace: “There is no god but allah and mohammed is his messenger.”
Do you happento have an FR link on this?
“The claim that Catholics worship Mohammad’s daughter, Fatima has been debunked and should not be repeated again on this forum. It would be considered as inflammatory as the false Jesuit Oath which is also not allowed here.”
Precisely the point I was trying to make. I was trying to substantiate that the belief had been articulated before (via a Catholic news source). I do not assert that the Catholic Church actually believes and teaches it (they don't).
No one here has disputed that this or that group of Muslims may have odd views about Catholic beliefs and teachings. In that Islam arose as an Arian heresy out of Catholicism, Islamic distortions of Catholic teaching kinda go with the territory. My elder son often says this is one time that we really should have burned the heretics at the stake. Oh well, live and learn.
However, a poster here FALSELY libeled the Catholic Church, Catholic teaching, and Catholic believers by saying:
“Yes, Muslims and Catholics share the worship of Mary and the false prophetess, Fatima.”
That’s an ugly, bigoted, anti-Catholic, Jack Chick-like falsehood.
If you’d like to further defend it, have at it.
sitetest
You could start with the links I posted in my #151. While that discussion focused more on the fallacious or deceptive nature of a Zenit quote re Mary being Fatima, the thread does discuss - and debunk thoroughly, IMO - the claim itself (from an official Catholic view, of course).
Are there any other false, libelous statements that you'd like to make before we move on?
I’m not saying anything false or libelous. Here’s what you said about the poster:
“It doesn’t prove the allegation, but it does prove that nmh isn’t making it up.”
Here is what we have been claiming the poster has been making up:
“Yes, Muslims and Catholics share the worship of Mary and the false prophetess, Fatima.”
This is the false charge. But you said, “nmh isn’t making it up.”
Sounds like a defense to me.
sitetest
I’m sorry, but I would have to question the intentions of any who demanded arabic in a Christian service in America. Aramaic would be great but... is there much arabic in it already? Is it licit to use a language other than the vernacular or latin? Or is arabic now the vernacular in parts of Detroit?
So ya'll "alledgedly" worship a woman? Whether true or false that shouldn't add anymore fuel to the fire. Get over the wa wa wa, poor me, I'm a victim stuff. I'm tired of ya'll crying wolf.
Yes I am. Thank you for bringing that mistake to my attention. Still doesn't detract from the "wa wa wa wa" point.
Of course, Jack Chick says the same thing about the Vatican.
Wa wa wa. Call Bill Donahue.
Yeah, you'd rather we'd just quietly slink to the back of the bus and shut up.
"back of the bus"? lol. Just can't help yourself. wa wa wa wa.
I'll send him a check. I wish there were 10,000 Bill Donahues.
Of course there's no way I could know but he seems gay to me. :-)
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