麻豆社

Following the vote last night and now as all sides of the Brexit debate will want to have their say in this charged atmosphere, I鈥檓 especially grateful for the two days I spent with Christians and Muslims at Westminster Abbey earlier this week.

On Tuesday, as we sat in our meeting, we could hear the noise coming from a hundred metres away where the Brexit demonstration and media scrum gathered. The crowds grew and the noise levels rose and it really did feel somewhat of a sanctuary to be on the other side of that wall.

As with all interfaith meetings of this kind, it is never about agreeing on everything, no one expects that. And there will always be conversations acknowledging that for many in our country, faith has no place. As people of faith or no faith we must find mutual respect and understanding between us and as Archbishop Justin Welby says, we must learn how to disagree well.

Of course diversity and disagreement exist within groups as well as between groups. For instance, there is no such thing as 鈥楾he Muslim Community鈥� and of course our Christian friends will say the same when reflecting on different denominations within their faith, much of which was reflected around our table.

At the end of our meeting some of us decided to walk out together and take a longer route which took us out of a private gate and up to Parliament Square.

I admit some parts of the crowd made me feel uneasy as a Muslim woman but flanked by two of my Christian friends, both wearing their clerical collars, I definitely felt more at ease.

And as we walked through, a man from the crowd noticing my friend鈥檚 collar called out to us 鈥淥i, as a man of God, what do you think we need to do?!鈥� and without hesitation my friend calmly replied 鈥淟ove Thy Neighbour!鈥�. At that the questioner raised his coffee cup to loud cheers as we continued walking through. It was unplanned and for many, went unnoticed among the chaos. But for me it felt personal and it meant a lot.

As a Muslim I am reminded often in scripture and through other teachings to look at myself and think how I can be of service to others. As the Prophet Muhammad said 鈥淣one of you can be a true believer if you go to bed full while your neighbour is hungry鈥�.

At unprecedented times like these we need to up our game, disagree well and write the next chapter together.

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