🎀 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Christian Muslim Forum!

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CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR

Thanks for subscribing to our newsletter and a special thanks to all of you who have taken part in our initiatives recently.

This edition is packed with news on what the Christian Muslim Forum has been up to, some articles & publications - and events coming up!

Remember to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with our news.

As the festive season approaches and the year comes to an end, CMF's trustees, staff & volunteers send you our very best wishes.

For those celebrating Christmas next week and for everyone taking a break, we pray that your home is filled with love, laughter and warmth.

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON AT THE CHRISTIAN MUSLIM FORUM?

The Archbishop of Canterbury invited the Christian Muslim Forum to Lambeth Palace to talk about Public Faith and the Challenge of the Spiritual Life. Professor Mona Siddiqui, Scholar-Consultant to CMF, talked with Archbishop Justin about the importance of prayer in their personal lives and in their respective faiths.

Watch the short video.

CMF met at London Central Mosque to hear from distinguished speakers on the troubling topic of the persecution of Christians and of Muslims overseas: Archbishop Anba Angaelos of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Dr Ahmad Al-Dubayan, Director General of London Central Mosque, and Julia Bicknell, World Watch Monitor.

The following morning, hot topics included Relationship & Sex Education in primary schools, freedom of speech & of the press, and the promotion (and pushback against) a working definition of Islamophobia.

A CMF planning meeting was held in Brierfield with Near Neighbours' Lynne Mitchell to build on the excellent work taking place in Lancashire and to create more opportunities for Christians and Muslims to meet and get to know each other, including church-mosque twinning and a gathering in 2020.

As part of our Near Neighbours strand of work, the Dean of Manchester hosted a lively & productive meeting in the library at Manchester Cathedral. Samra Kanwal, NN coordinator, friends from the Central Mosque & the Manchester Centre for the Study of Christianity & Islam, church-mosque twins Imam Hassanat and Revd Mark Coleman (Rochdale), Siriol Davies and others discussed current initiatives and made plans for an evening event early in 2020.

In Walsall and the Black Country, church-mosque twinning is a popular and flexible way of bringing Christians and Muslims together as friends and neighbours.

Contact CMF or TC Together if you'd like to know more or get involved in a couple of events planned for March and May.

in the picture, Shaz Akhtar, Near Neighbours local coordinator, and CMF's Director on a recent visit.

Professor Mona Siddiqui presented two special awards at Bradford Cathedral to grassroots projects in the Leeds and Bradford area which demonstrated the value of gratitude. Winners Biasan and Touchstone spoke about their projects and Kaneez Khan (top photo) interviewed four women whose community work has far-reaching impact.

Imam Irfan Soni and Revd Mark Umpleby told everyone about their friendship and public life in Batley and Imam Qari Asim and Bishop Toby Howarth (both trustees of CMF) offered reflections on the theme and their appreciation of transformative local work which often stays under the radar.

We are grateful to the Issachaar Fund, Bradford Cathedral, the University of Edinburgh, Stronger Communities Partnership, Near Neighbours and - most importantly - to all the inspiring community groups who filled the Cathedral that day with stories of friendship and hope.

The MB Reckitt Trust and Churches Together in Britain & Ireland are supporting CMF in producing some resources on Muslim Life in Britain. Evidence from CMF's work and from major surveys reveals ignorance about Muslims within church circles which can sometimes lead to fear, hostility and division.

CMF will be creating attractive, easy-to-use, written resources, based on the recommendations of a reference group, and disseminating these through church structures across the country. This will be coupled with opportunities for churchgoers to get to know neighbouring Muslims and Islamic organisations through CMF’s national network.

At St Augustine's Church in Kilburn, London, and later over lunch at the nearby Islamic Centre of England, an event to celebrate this church-mosque twinning friendship took place. Contributions on the topic of Spirituality and Learning were made by Father Amos, Sheikh Ali Husain Datoo, Aliya Azam MBE and Catriona Robertson. A lively discussion during lunch on the afterlife was facilitated by longstanding friends of CMF Dr Chris Hewer, Sheikh Bahmanpour and CMF trustee Bishop Paul Hendricks. A moving aspect of this annual event is that Muslim friends sit & observe Mass celebrated in church and Christian friends sit & observe Islamic prayers at ICE.

Are you in the south west?
A small gathering may take place at the Ammerdown Centre, Somerset, in January, bringing together Christians & Muslims, churches & mosques.
Contact CMF if you're interested in joining us.

DON'T MISS OUT - SAVE THE DATE!

#VisitMyMosque is back & set to be bigger than ever! 100s of mosques across the country will be welcome their neighbours of all faiths & none on Sunday 21 June, building bridges & bringing communities together. CMF is proud to suppport this initiative as a Friend of Visit My Mosque.

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic year, falls - depending on the sighting of the moon - between 24 April and 23 May 2020.

Keep a look out for invitations to Open Iftar, where Muslims and many others come together in the evening to break the fast, hear from prominent speakers and enjoy supper together.
Open Iftar aims to turn strangers into friends.

RESOURCES - WHAT'S NEW?

The film on Islam from the British Library Explores four of the five pillars of Islam – the Muslim profession of faith (shahada), prayer (salat), charity (zakat), and fasting during Ramadan (sawm) – and how Muslims in Britain follow them today.

Explore the diverse ways in which five Christian denominations – Coptic Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Church of England, Methodist, and Pentecostal – worship in Britain today, and the texts that inspire them. From the British Library.

For many, the idea of interfaith engagement is one to be treated with scepticism.
Whilst there is fierce discussion around interfaith issues at a scholarly level, this fails to make an impact on the practice of the church.

And yet, an increasing number of those training for church leadership will find themselves in churches which are at the heart of diverse, and often divided, communities. Hospitality, Service, Proclamation seeks to demystify the interfaith project.

Tom Wilson is Director of St Philip's Centre, Leicester.

Christmas and the Qur’an is a sensitive and precise analysis of the Christmas story as it appears both in the Gospels and the Qur’an and shows startling similarities as well as significant differences.

Exploring how Christians and Muslims read these scriptures, Kuschel reveals an intertwining legacy that serves as a base for greater understanding.

Christmas and the Qur'an is published by Gingko Library.

Interreligious Engagement in Urban Spaces: Social, Material and Ideological Dimensions, edited by academic & friend of CMF Julia Ipgrave, examines interreligious dialogue from a European perspective. It features detailed case studies, including CMF's work.

Is interreligious dialogue the producer or product of social capital? What & how are different meanings produced & contested in places of interreligious activity? What is the function of religious thinking in different forms of interreligious activity?

ICYMI (in case you missed it . . .)

“In August 2017, The Times published a piece with the headline ‘Christian child forced into Muslim foster care’. The story was front-page news the next day as well – and the next – but was it right?”
BBC Corrections

In an extended programme, the BBC’s Corrections series has looked at how three front page stories in the Times newspaper about a fostering placement, heavily criticised for stoking divisions, came to be pubished in August 2017.

CMF issued a statement at the time and the press regulator, IPSO, later upheld a complaint.

The programme includes the first interview since 2017 with the journalist, Andrew Norfolk, on this topic. He regrets in hindsight that he may have “pushed to the fore certain aspects” of the story.

Listen to the programme's investigation here.

Listen to the investigation

Al-Andalus: the Legacy. Al-Andalus was the 800-year period of Muslim rule in Spain, ending in 1492. In a BBC Radio 3 programme, Andrew Hussey journeys through Spain searching for its legacy today in politics, art and architecture.

Andrew embarks on a quest to find out what is truth and what is myth about Al-Andalus. He visits the great wonders of the Alhambra in Granada and the Mezquita in Cordoba but also looks for traces of Al-Andalus in the culture today. He hears how both Reconquista and Al-Andalus have been weaponised by different political groups. And he explores Spain's sometimes uneasy relationship with its Islamic past.

Listen to Al-Andalus: the Legacy

In recognition of the continuing relevance of the encounter between St. Francis and Sultan al-Malik al-Kamal 800 years ago, the Franciscans in the US have produced a booklet.
It has informative articles about the historical encounter and explores the meeting through the eyes of an artist and film director.
Catholic and Franciscan foundations for interreligious dialogue are included.

Download the booklet

FAREWELL FROM CATRIONA, CMF'S DIRECTOR

Splits, rifts & distrust have beset our national life. But my own experience at CMF has been different.

Every day I’m in touch with our grassroots network. And every day I’m inspired by the goodwill & resilience shown by Christians, Muslims & others who defy the siren calls of discord.

They are digging deep into their religious traditions and finding fresh, creative ways of living well with difference. They ignore ‘fake news’ and bigotry. They are curious, bold and keen to learn. They are making a fantastic impact.

You've seen news from Bradford, Manchester, London Central Mosque, Somerset, Walsall, Leeds, Lancashire and Lambeth Palace. Books & resources. Activists & thinkers. Christians & Muslims getting along just fine; this is a different story from the one often portrayed in press headlines.

I will soon be returning to Scotland to be part of an ecumenical team at Iona Abbey. Please visit! Or join an action week: Christian-Muslim groups will be most welcome.

It has been a great privilege to work with everyone within the growing CMF family - a truly amazing bunch of people: trustees, colleagues, scholars, church-mosque twins, leaders, partners, volunteers, core group members. Thank you for the solid support - and the laughter ...

Contact me with your ideas for 2020 and I'll make sure they are passed on to my successor.

Some smiles to see us into the New Year.

Sara and Aidan work together at the Jesuit Refugee Centre in Wapping, London.

"JRS accompanies refugees and forced migrants, our brothers and sisters, serving them as companions and advocating their cause in an uncaring world."

Thanks for your feedback on our last newsletter. We would love to know what you think of this one! What did you enjoy? Is there anything you'd like to see more (or less) of?

Please email your thoughts to Shaheen Sattar

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