Pope Highlights Bond With Muslims
September 23, 2011 Pope Benedict has met with German Muslim leaders and called for Christianity and Islam to grow together in “dialogue and mutual esteem.” He met with several Muslim leaders in Berlin Friday, on the second day of his trip to Germany. The pope stressed the importance of religion in modern society and said he believes there can be a “fruitful collaboration” between Christians and Muslims. On Thursday, Pope Benedict celebrated an open air mass before 70,000 Catholics at Berlin’s historic Olympic Stadium. Earlier in the day, at the start of his first state visit to his native country, the pope addressed the German parliament. He urged politicians not to sacrifice ethics for power, citing Nazi excesses...
Maryland Mosque Invites Jewish Neighbors for Iftar...
As Muslims around the world observed Ramadan over the past month, one mosque in the suburbs of Washington found the holy month of fasting from sunrise to sundown could provide an opportunity for some interfaith understanding. The Islamic Center of Maryland hosted members of the local Jewish community for evening prayers and an Iftar dinner, the daily meal in which Muslims break their Ramadan fast. Then, they joined their guests for a Havdalah ceremony – to mark the end of the Jewish Sabbath. VOA’s Saqib UI Islam was also there. It’s sunset in the town of Gaithersburg, Maryland, just north of Washington, about time for the Muslims living in this area to break their fast. Many have gathered...
Norway Muslims share nation’s grief and hope for unity...
By Mohammed Abbas and Aasa Christine Stoltz OSLO | Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:22pm EDT (Reuters) – As central Oslo reeled from Norway’s worst massacre in modern history, a blond man in the grieving crowd asked Iraqi-born Iman al-Kofi, wearing a headscarf, for a hug. Kofi, who had a friend in intensive care with three bullet wounds and had learned that at least one other friend of Iraqi origin had been killed in Friday’s massacre by an anti-Islamic extremist, obliged, and the man walked back into the crowd without another word. Kofi, 19, and other Muslim immigrants say they would have been treated very differently had the perpetrator of one of the country’s most heinous...
Pope to Meet Jews, Muslims on German visit...
VATICAN CITY | Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:28am EDT (Reuters) – Pope Benedict will meet Jews and Muslims on his visit to his German homeland in September, the Vatican said on Wednesday. The visit, which will take him to Berlin, Erfurt, Etzelsbach, Lahr and Freiburg im Breisgau, will be Benedict’s third trip home since becoming pope in 2005. A Vatican program for the September 22-25 trip showed the pope will meet members of the Jewish community on the first day and Muslims on the second day. While meetings with the Jewish community are common on papal trips, when a pope meets the community in Germany the event takes on greater significance because of the...
Muslims Rush to Restore Torched Egypt Church...
By Sami Aboudi CAIRO | Wed May 25, 2011 3:36pm EDT (Reuters) – Mohammed Fathi worked his brush gently over an icon of Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, removing soot from its surface inside a church gutted in an attack by Islamist militants this month. “It takes a lot of careful work to do that,” Fathi said. “We have to do a lot of tests with chemicals to try to restore the icon to its original condition.” The 26-year-old is one of a vast group of mostly Muslim craftsmen tasked with restoring St Mary’s Church in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba after militants set it on fire on May 7. Egypt’s military...
Egyptian Islamist Calls for Tolerance of Coptic Christians...
May 11, 2011 Elizabeth Arrott | Cairo Violence between Egypt’s Coptic Christians and conservative Muslims has led to calls for tolerance from some unlikely sources. The allegiance of the men gathered outside a mosque in central Assyut is clear. But the man addressing the rally implores them to embrace those of other religions. Aboud el-Zomour warns against interfaith violence that just days before in Cairo left 12 people dead. An ex-army officer, former leader of Islamic Jihad, and prisoner for nearly 30 years for his role in killing the perceived infidel President Anwar Sadat, al-Zomour now presents himself as a messenger of peace. He tells the crowd his group has “turned the page of violence, forever and with...
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