Standing in Solidarity- The reflections of an Imam and a Rabbi

By:

Imam Mohammed Magid, All Dulles Area Muslim Society, Sterling, VA and Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation, Reston, VA

None of us will soon forget the recent events in Riverdale, NY, leading to the arrest of men planning violence and spouting hatred against the members of a synagogue. But it does not and cannot stand alone in our memory as we meet one another as\Muslims and Jews.

For nearly ten years, our synagogue and mosque have engaged in dialogue programs and joint projects to raise awareness on issues pertinent to our faith and to build cooperation in our community. We have gained insight from each faith as both Islam and Judaism promote the dignity and integrity of every human being. Learning from our dialogue as rabbi and imam, we are planning a visit to the Middle East to provide humanitarian aid to Jewish and Muslim communities and to build peace and compassion. And recently we began welcoming one another into our homes to acknowledge the heartfelt prayer and values of the other. During this past year, we held a pulpit exchange as rabbi and imam and members of the mosque at All Dulles Area Muslim Society of Sterling, Virginia now visit the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation in Reston, Virginia as a location for Friday Muslim congregational prayer.

We hope that these pictures of our communities sharing space with hospitality and sharing ideas and joint projects with respect and cooperation will be remembered this week, alongside the memories of the recent events plotted on a synagogue in New York.

For these events in New York trouble us both. When people plot violent attacks on synagogues or mosques, this reminds all of us to stand together as one community against all the hatred and religious bigotry that people claim to justify by religion. For hatred has no place in Islam or Judaism. Both of our traditions teach us to love our neighbors and to care about one another as human beings. They teach us to do as several members of the New York Muslim and Jewish communities have done and respond to the recent threats of violence with solidarity.

Still we believe even more efforts of solidarity are needed. We must engage people in both of our faiths to build understanding and collaboration until we see anti Semitism and Islamaphobia wiped out. All of the leaders of our community must bear the responsibility of teaching that an attack on one place of worship should be considered an attack on every place of worship. For in America all of us should enjoy freedom of religious expression and assembly.

In fact, attacks based on errant ideas about our religions are a breach of the very freedom of religion we enjoy in this country. Those who plot violence should not be seen as representing Islam or Judaism or any faith. Nor is it reasonable to justify threatening another community’s rights on the basis of one’s religion. Rather the motive of those plotting violence is nothing short of racism and hatred. As imam and rabbi, we see attacking any synagogue or mosque as an attack on all places of worship and as an attack on freedom itself.

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PEACE, SHALOM, SALAAM,