In the name of God the most beneficent most merciful.
"O mankind! We created you ... and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (and not despise each other). Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)" Quran (49:13).
April 4, 2003: Jews and Muslims in the Middle East are in the midst of conflict. Thousands of miles away in Charlottesville, Va. more than a dozen Jewish students pull up to the mosque at 10 1/2 Street and are welcomed by students from the Muslim Students Association. Its time for "Open Doors," an event organized by the Student Council religious affairs committee to facilitate inter-community dialogue. Three hours later, a group of Muslim students stand for prayer outside the Hillel Jewish Center while their Jewish counterparts gather for Shabbat services inside.
My forehead and hands touched the ground. I shut my eyes and listened to Siddique's soft recitations as he led prayer. The voices of Jewish students praying floated out from within the building. As Arabic and Hebrew meshed together in the evening air, all of my senses were heightened and for that instant I knew that everything -- the grass beneath us, the trees around us, the chirping birds, the setting sun, our hosts inside and all of us outside -- were praising God in different ways. We were all saying the same thing to the same God in different languages. I took it all in and at that moment felt as close to the students inside as I did to the cool grass under my palms.
Being that this was our first attempt at organizing an event of this nature, there was much excitement as well as uncertainty prior to it. As soon as we greeted our Jewish guests at the mosque, however, a mutual level of comfort was established. As the call to prayer resonated from the mosque windows, Muslim girls helped Jewish girls tie scarves around their heads, everyone removed their shoes and we eagerly ushered our guests into our place of prostration. Following our mid-afternoon prayers and an insightful presentation about Islam, our bright-eyed guests asked questions, shared thoughts and participated in an engaging conversation with us. These conversations highlighted our many religious similarities and brought to light misconceptions on both sides. I was pleasantly surprised that politics did not come up even once during our discussion.
Our evening at Hillel helped to further the connection we had begun to develop amongst ourselves. I was very impressed by the lengths to which our Jewish hosts went in welcoming us into their place of prayer. We were invited to light candles to welcome the Shabbat with them, grape juice took the place of wine at dinner and the president of MSA was asked to break challah (bread) with the president of Hillel. I had not realized what a powerful impact the hospitality and dialogue with Hillel students would have on me.
There are many unfair stereotypes, especially in the Muslim world, regarding Judaism and Jewish people, and my first experience attending a prayer service found them to be a devout, open and gracious people. Attending this program allowed me to come across things I had not come across before, and I cannot help but realize that more participation in such events could help us to solve many of the problems our world is facing today. My only disappointment was that more Muslim students did not take advantage of this amazing opportunity to share these two traditions and faiths that have the same root and yet have somehow become the root of so many conflicts all over.
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