Saturday, May 11, 2013

A Mennonite Goes Looking for "the Real Islam" at Edmonton's Al Rashid Mosque

The mosque's imam had to step down recently for some saucy remarks about gays, and the mosque's website will direct you to a link that is flagrantly supremacist/Zion-loathing, but I suspect the Mennonite chick described here doesn't much care about any of that:
CAIRO – In a bid to build better relations with the Muslim community in Edmonton in the southern Canadian province of Alberta, two young women have led a series of visits to Al Rashid mosque, getting a warm welcome that started an established friendship. 
“At the mosque I identify myself as Christian,” Miriam Gross, 21, a member of Mennonite Church Alberta community, told Mennonite World Review in the edition to be released next Monday, May 13. 
“Then I say I don’t want to sit at home and listen to what the media are telling me about Islam.  
“I want to hear about Islam from Muslims.” 
Seeking a firsthand experience with the area’s Muslims, Gross and Donna Entz have organized several visits to Al Rashid Mosque in Edmonton. 
Their visits were part of a project supported by Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite Church Alberta that seeks to build connections between Mennonite and Muslim communities in Edmonton. 
Working with newcomers to Canada, the two women were keen on learning about and working with Muslims. 
“What they tell me as I get to know them here in Edmonton is they want to be part of this society,” she said. 
“They’re relieved when someone tries to move closer to them culturally and even religiously. 
“They don’t have to make the entire effort.”...
Well, they do have their common loathing for Zion to bring them closer together. ;)

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