Muslims

Katek that is so true, there are I am sure, more people who want peace than there are those who want war, it is just that the warlike reach the headlines because of the atrocities they commit. This bringing people together through their different faiths must be a good thing.

When I was a teacher I had a similar experience at a training session along with paramedics and firemen. There were both male and female speakers and I learned so much. The open questioning was brilliant because like the OP we were encouraged to ask the questions we'd all like to know the answer to but were afraid to ask. Someone asked the lady speaker if she had to be submissive to her husband. They all laughed and the Imam said that the thought of her being submissive was hysterical. A fireman asked about removing he hijab if necessary. She said strip me naked if it's going to save my life. Allah said we should dress modestly in everyday life. He didn't say stay modest even if it kills you. She also told us that the hijab was brilliant on bad hair days and a wonderfully funny story about when she broke her leg and all she could think about was that she hadn't shaved her legs for a few days (something else that modest dress means you can usually get away with lol). Simple stories that showed that we're all the same.

We asked the Imam about a local couple that we all knew of where the woman walked behind her husband. The Imam was horrified. He said he thought he'd stamped such ridiculous behaviour (his words) out and he would find this couple and stop it. Apparently he makes a point of going to the homes of such couples and proving to them that it's not a teaching of the Prophet.

Finally we attended Friday mosque prayers. Absolutely fascinating and, after seeing how close they are to each other, it was obvious why men and women pray separately. The mosque was absolutely packed and the men were not only shoulder to shoulder but also nose to bum.

I came away with a much greater understanding not only of the faith but of our similarities rather than our differences.

I have to say I tend to walk behind my DH, especially in towns. It's easier. I don't get morons bumping into my shoulder all the time and I don't have to think about where I'm going and can look at shop windows!

But not 10 paces behind like the lady I mentioned did. I forgot to say I saw the couple a few days later and they were walking side by side and chatting. I guess the Imam had visited them.

Vampire's post and others here reminded me that it's often teachers, social workers, firefighters, police, nurses, health visitors etc, i.e. public servants who benefited from diversity courses because the nature of that work puts you in contact with our diverse communities.
We're the ones who are often accused of being lefties with no idea how the real world works.
The news this week reported some Christian families are (allegedly) refusing to allow their children to attend RE when the subject under discussion is Islam. Locally, I'm aware from teaching friends of some Muslim families who don't want their children to study the broad RE curriculum, only the section on Islam. I know RE is a contentious subject for many but I can see so many benefits. In our area, many of the CofE or RC schools have a lot of pupils from either different or no faith families. My younger children went to the local CofE high school, where, as with the RC high schools, RE is studied by all pupils to GCSE level. I wouldn't want any children brain washed into any one faith but I do believe we all could benefit from the kind of positives identified by adults on this thread.
Before WW3 breaks out - yes I agree, faith schools are an anachronism. In an ideal world we wouldn't have them (nor would we give charitable status to private schools)

I used to work in and firmly believed in the faith school system. Now I'm totally against it. Having been on the inside I can see how children are indoctrinated and, although it's technically taught, learning about other faiths is only given lip service. We used to formally teach RE for 2 hours a week but really it permeated into every aspect of school life so the children got a lot more input. Each term we had an other faith fortnight i.e. 4 hours. So in each year the children had 4 hours of learning about Islam or Judaism then alternate years they learned about Sikhism or Hinduism. Lets be honest 12 hours a year doesn't really constitute learning about other faiths.

One year I was teaching about prayer (from the official school information and plan) when a Muslim child told me I was wrong. He was a very confident child so I asked him if he'd like to be the teacher and tell us all about prayer. I learned so much from him. It was totally different to the stuff we'd been given to teach from.

I studied Islam and Arabic and there are very few differences between Christianity and Islam, the problems arise in our society from lack of integration. There is fault on both "sides", We on the Christian "side" expect everyone to live like us as this is our country and to an extent that is not unreasonable, on the Muslim "side" they want to import their way of life which again to an extent is not unreasonable. We Christians feel as thought we are persecuted by our own authorities and at times Islam is given priority and Muslims feel they are persecuted also.
So maybe the answer is we both have to give a little, i.e we accept heads being covered but not the face and we teach our young to dress decently and not to have everything on show

Agree totally grannypiper. A lot of exposed flesh is not usually flattering and for me, who's a bit hard of hearing, a covered face is difficult to read (this also applies to motor cycle helmets etc). As far as I'm concerned a person's faith beliefs, like their sexual orientation, is private and doesn't need to be shared.

And I agree about faith schools too vampirequeen, there's so many CoE primary schools in Norfolk it's difficult to find an alternative.

(I daren't walk ten feet behind DH - he's not very tall and I'd loose him!)

We live in a very white rural area and little granddaughter asked why someone wore a headscarf. I told her that to some people it's polite for women to cover their heads, just as we cover our boobs and bottoms.
Many religions and cultures require women to cover their heads, my old Granny would never go out without a hat.

Exactly water meadow, grannies and hats, grandpa's and trilby's (and dad's in my case) which they'd lift when greeting women. We went into a Catholic Church in Italy recently. I was brought up CofE but until recently, would never have entered an RC Church without covering my head.