Acts of kindness such as this occur across the globe but usually get scant coverage in favor of sensational, conflict driven stories.


While the University considers itself a diverse community, some students have felt left out of the equation — until now.

The Second Reformed Church, located at 100 College Ave., will now offer a place for practicing Muslims to go for their Friday worship, Pastor Doug Shepler said.

“The decision was a natural outcome from the church,” he said. “The reformed church has had a strong relationship with the Muslim community for a very long time.”

Yusra Janajri, a School of Arts and Sciences junior, said up until now, practicing Muslims have had to pray in some uncommon places.

“As someone who tries to find a place to pray — usually facing a stray wall, a doorway or sometimes a bathroom — it is difficult,” she said. “This makes things a lot easier for us.”

Saad Kahn, a School of Arts and Sciences junior, said the idea to go to the church was suggested while he was talking with a friend at a New Jersey Dream Act Coalition meeting.

“Our friend was talking about how the Muslim community could use a place to pray,” Kahn said. “It was interesting to hear someone outside the Muslim community talk about the same issues we have.”

He said he was introduced to Shepler the same night and they came up with a plan to allow the Muslim community to pray at the church.

“[Shepler] had one condition for allowing us to pray at the church, he said ‘I want to pray with you,’” Kahn said. “Over the next few days we discussed what [needed] to be done.”

Simone Lovano, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences senior, said this is the right time and right place for the church to allow the Muslim community to come and pray.

“They had a large auditorium that was not being used, and they will allow us to come in and use that as a place to pray,” Lovano said.

Shepler said students came to him and wanted some place safe and close by to practice their worship.

“[Kahn] came to me and said ‘we don’t have a place, we want somewhere on campus to be able to pray,’” he said. “There was no conflict or difficulties — this is who we are and what we have done for the last 100 years.”

Kahn said some of the major Muslim groups on campus, including the Muslim Student Association and the Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University, came together to discuss the idea.

The Muslim community’s use of the church has three goals, Kahn said.

“The first prayer space, is going to be fulfilled by being able to use the church,” Kahn said. “Next we need to bring the Muslim community together, then finally we will need to sustain a space for the long term.”

The Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University, a nonprofit organization, works for the rights of the Muslim community at the University, Kahn said. Their vision has been focused on finding a place to pray.

Now, he said, they can bridge that gap with the community and sustainability.

He said the Muslim community is going to have their first major prayer kickoff at the church on Friday, March 15 at 1:15 p.m. The Muslim community will be allowed to use the space provided to pray every week on Friday for Salat al Juma, the Friday prayer.

“We want to unite all the students at Rutgers,” Kahn said.

Ibaad Sadiq, a School of Engineering junior, said the prayer would be welcome to all students, not just practicing Muslims.

“Anyone who is interested in seeing the Friday prayer is welcome to come out,” he said.

Kahn said he hopes this is the beginning of a much-needed change on campus, and wants to see the Muslim community sustained after he graduates in 2014. With such a diverse community such as the student body at the University, he said this is a step in the right direction.

There were previous attempts made to allow the Muslim community to find a place to pray in the past, but they lacked the human connection, he said. Once the human connection was made, he found all the religions have the same basic vision whether it is Christianity, Islam or Judaism.

Shepler said he hopes the decision to open the church’s doors to the Muslim community will make them feel comfortable and at home on campus.

“I hope it gives the Muslim community a sense of acceptance,” he said. “They may have felt threatened, uncomfortable or unsafe before. We wanted to give them a safe place for spiritual practice now.”

While the facility has been used for meetings by other religions before, he hopes to continue the ongoing commitment to the University community in the future.

“As long as a group provides a community service, they are welcome to use our facility for meetings or what they may need,” he said.

Abdul Rehman Kahn, a School of Arts and Sciences junior, said this decision is a great representation of diversity on campus.

“This is what interfaith is all about, helping another group,” he said. “Helping another group thrive when they are at their weakest.”

Janajri said she is relieved to have a place to pray and worship without being in a random stairwell or bothering people.

Maha Zayed, a School of Arts and Sciences junior, said she thinks the idea is a step in the right direction as well. She feels this will be a great unifying experience for both the church and the Muslim community.

“We have been working for a place to be able to pray, and for [the pastor] to open his doors and let us in every Friday, it really promotes co-existence,” she said.

http://www.dailytargum.com/news/church-offers-prayer-space-for-muslim-community/article_442d58c4-8b8e-11e2-8de1-0019bb30f31a.html

can they offer the space for pagans too? smh

Understanding n respecting each other's religion, dis is wat is call civilization

That's Christians for you......we hold no-grudges. They shoud emulate this-una know una selves.

Amenn

VERY GOOD GESTURE.
Religious Tolerance
This clearly shows that some people just hide under the umbrella of Religion to perpetrate EVIL, No Religion preaches Violence.
Anybody twisting words of God to support EVIL, is doing it at his own Peril. RELIGION cannot spoil, only the individual will spoil himself.

Meanwhile d towel head are on jihad cause in Nigeria, decimating churches. As at last count 50 catholic churches out of 52 has been burnt down by the barbarians.

May God have mercy on u ppl.

.

Christians are peaceful and loving people,I hope our muslim brothers can learn from this

seunblack: Christians are peaceful and loving people,I hope our muslim brothers can learn from this

[size=18pt]muslims learnt first[/size]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/09/easter-at-the-mosque-sacramento-muslims-help-christian_n_1412663.html



Easter At The Mosque: Sacramento Muslims Lend Space To Churchless Christian Congregation (VIDEO)
Posted: 04/09/2012 2:00 pm Updated: 04/09/2012
FOLLOW: Video, Sacramento Area League Of Associated Muslims, Salam Center Sacramento, Salam Community Center Sacramento, Spiritual Life Center Sacramento, Muslims Easter, Sacramento Muslims, Spiritual Life Center, Good News


Hundreds of worshippers in Sacramento, Calif., were able to celebrate Easter together this Sunday thanks to a local Muslim organization that let the Christians hold services in their mosque, the Sacramento Bee reports.

For the past 12 years, members of the Spiritual Life Center of Sacramento had rented out space at the Pioneer Christian Church, according to the paper. But when their lease expired on March 31, the 500-member church was left with little time to find somewhere else to hold their Easter Sunday service, which is traditionally the best-attended of the year.

Reverend Michael Moran told reporters he had tried desperately to find a temporary meeting space before the solution came to him in a dream.

"We were desperately looking for a place to hold our Easter services. I had a dream and in the dream I saw a newspaper headline that read, 'Easter at the Mosque'," Moran told KXTV. "But when I awoke, I said that will never happen."

Putting his doubts aside, Moran called Dr. Metwalli Amer of the Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims (SALAM) to ask for permission to use the SALAM Community Center.

The Islamic Center had never allowed non-Muslim church to worship inside the mosque, but after consulting with SALAM’s board of trustees, Amer decided to let the congregants use the center's community hall for services, according to CBS Sacramento.

"This represents the true peaceful essence of the religion of Islam," Amer told Islamophobia Today. "I am an advocate of interfaith work."


The plans were not without controversy, however. Michael Tate, a member of New Season Christian Workshop Center in Elk Grove, told KCRA 3 News he believes the event was deceptive by leading people to believe the Quran is consistent with Christianity.

But objectors like Tate didn't stop worshippers from flocking to services at the mosque. Members of SALAM Community Center said there was so much interest in attending Easter services at the mosque that they had to schedule two services, one at 8:30 a.m. and another at 11 a.m.

"I heard people are coming from the bay area — all over the place just to witness this one-of-a-kind event. And we’re just happy to be a part of it," Adnan Syed, a spokesman for the mosque, told CBS Sacramento.

Reverend Moran told reporters that be believes the collaboration between the two religious communities was successful far beyond its original goal of helping the Spiritual Life Center congregants find a place to celebrate Easter.

"Our mission from the very beginning was to bring the different faith traditions together in cooperative efforts," Moran told KXTV. "I love what the Dalai Lama said, he said, 'Until there's peace among the world's religions, there will never be peace on earth. I think this is one of those steps towards peace.'"

No room for satan.

.

"Follow peace with ALL men" says my Bible. Christian for life!

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/world-news/detail/articolo/dialogo-interreligioso-interreligious-dialogue-dialogo-interreligioso-10329/

[size=18pt]Prophet Muhammad's invitation to Christians to pray in mosques[/size]



AN IMAM WITH SOME CATHOLIC PRIESTS
In Jordan, at the Catholic Muslim forum, reference was made to the “ecumenical” episode, when Muhammad invited the Christians of Najran to pray in his mosque, before engaging in dialogue with them

GIORGIO BERNARDELLI
ROME
"Even the prophet Muhammad invited Christians to pray in a mosque before meeting with them.” Among the many words spoken during the three days of the second Catholic Muslim Forum – gathered in recent days in Jordan at the Site of the Baptism of Jesus (a Christian holy site re-launched in these years by a Muslim government) – this phrase spoken by the Jordanian prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, was probably the most surprising. The quote refers to an episode narrated by the Sunna which sees as protagonists the Christians of Najran, an oasis in the Arabian peninsula. The quotation was used in the context of an meeting that was also attended by representatives from countries in which a gesture of this kind today, would unleash real uproar.
 
 
Forty-eight individuals present – half of them Catholic, the other half Muslim – at the meeting in Jordan viewed as the continuance of the first gathering, held in Rome in November 2008. A Forum born on the threshold of the route undertaken a year earlier, by a letter on the theme of dialogue with the Christian world, entitled A Common Word and signed by 138 Islamic personalities. On the Catholic side, the delegation in Jordan was led by Cardinal Jean-Luis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. The delegation also included representatives from some churches of the Middle East and North Africa (among them, the Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, the Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo, Antoine Audo, the Bishop of Constantine in Algeria, Paul Desfarges, the Apostolic Vicar of Saudi Arabia, Paul Hinder) and a large group of Islamic scholars and Christian philosophers. For the Muslim side, too, the delegation – led by Prince Ghazi, the host – was of an international nature: other well known figures included the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Guma'a, the Grand Mufti of Bosnia Mustafa Ceric, the Saudi sheikh Abdulla bin Bayyah, the Libyan intellectual Aref Ali al-Nayed and Professor Abdulaziz bin Uthaman Altwaijri, Director General of Isesco in Morocco.
 
 
The topic chosen for the second Muslim Catholic Forum, was “Reason, faith and the human person: Christian and Muslim perspectives”. A strictly philosophical theme, on which the declaration made at the end of the discussions was based. The brief text was split into five points, which affirmed that “God has given man reason in order to recognize the truth” and that he who is faithful to the Lord, has in his center a pure heart in which “faith, reason and compassion meet in the adoration of God and in love for his neighbor.” For this reason, “the dignity bestowed by God on human beings must be respected by all and protected by law” and the relationship among believers must be animated by “reciprocal compassion and respect.” While the dialogue between Christians and Muslims must continue as “a way to promote mutual understanding and to promote the common good of all humanity, especially its thirst for peace, justice and solidarity.”
 
 
These are high aims, which nevertheless address very concrete concerns in the Middle East today, shaken by the wind of the Arab spring, as the participants were also able to emphasize, in the encounter they had during discussions with the King of Jordan, Abdallah II. It is in this context that the words spoken by Prince Ghazi, referred to at the beginning of the article, are of particular interest. The words he used in relation to the question of places of Christian worship touched a raw nerve in some Muslim countries. Underlining the fact that the Site of Jesus' Baptism (where the Forum met in these past days) is “a holy place, developed, nourished and protected by Muslims for Christians,” the exact words used by the first of the letter's 138 signatories in his introductory greeting were: “perhaps our Christian colleagues are not aware of the fact that we Muslims have learned to behave in this way, from what we read in the Sunna about the prophet Muhammad, who invited the Christians of Najran to pray in his mosque before undertaking an interreligious dialogue with them.”
 
 
One might ask whether it is only their “Christian colleagues” who are not aware of this. And whether that precise reference to the Sunna – which for the Sunni Islamic world is the most important source after the Qur'an – was not perhaps addressed primarily to someone else. Because the historical precedent according to which the Prophet is supposed to have permitted some Christians to gather and pray inside a mosque, is unknown to the vast majority of Muslims. It must also be noted that the Christian community of Najran in Muhammad's time, was the most important Christian community in Arabia. And the mosque in which he invited them to pray, was the Medina Mosque. The historical episode in question, is therefore complex. It is true that immediately after the gesture recalled by Prince Ghazi, an agreement - the treaty of Najran - was signed. In this agreement, Muhammad said “the Christians are my citizens” and “their churches must be respected.” But it must also be recalled that it did not last long: since they had begun “resisting” the preaching of Islam by the time Caliph Omar rose to power, the Christians of Najran started to be expelled from the Arabian peninsula, in name of the holiness of Mecca and Medina.

Islam is a religion of peace,u can see that saudi arabia is very peaceful or have you seen them in any war or violence? I wonder why dose terrorist call dem selfs soldiers of allah....

jigawatts: VERY GOOD GESTURE.
Religious Tolerance
This clearly shows that some people just hide under the umbrella of Religion to perpetrate EVIL, No Religion preaches Violence.
Anybody twisting words of God to support EVIL, is doing it at his own Peril. RELIGION cannot spoil, only the individual will spoil himself.

Who told u "No religion preach evil"?
Any religion that does not have its faith based on Jesus Christ is not to be trusted, even 4 He came, Christians were involved in violence "Crusaders". Dats Y Peter was following Jesus with a sword.

Hope dis xtian guys are not welcomin nd embracing problem, cos dis muslim fellows.... hmmm

Nigerians have a problem- see positive news about religious tolerance, little interest. However, post X group kills 100 in Attack and you have people queuing to post in their hundreds.

#Distasteful

That's xtianity for you. I wonder if muslims can allow that

maclatunji: Nigerians have a problem- see positive news about religious tolerance, little interest. However, post X group kills 100 in Attack and you have people queuing to post in their hundreds.

#Distasteful

I don't see u showering praises either. Instead you are here with your prejudice. Which one u sef dey?

Good gesture! But as for me, Once a place is not designated as Church right from the foundation, You don't find me there in the name of worship.I can as well as do it from my home. That's why I don't even worship in those factories and hotels being converted to Churches all over the place. You don't take a building with all sort of histories and turn it to "The House Of God". Sanctuaries are built.

That's what Christianity preaches.. Tolerance, forgiveness, endurance, love and what have you...

If you believe 'Christianity' is a religion of PEACE click like....

slysinzu: Islam is a religion of peace,u can see that saudi arabia is very peaceful or have you seen them in any war or violence? I wonder why dose terrorist call dem selfs soldiers of allah....

SAUDI ARABIA PEACEFUL? Watch PRESS TV then tell what you see. Injustice is d order of d day at saudi according to PRESS TV which belong to ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

kponke denge: 1st to comment glory be 2 God

sorry,your oga at the top has already commented.
try harder next time

Hw does dis negate the fact dat Al queda, boko Haram, Hezbollah and Al shabaab are amenable Muslims doing allah's will.

We know Christainity preaches peace and love, can we say same for the Mohammedans