Muslims

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.

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.

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!)

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

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 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.

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)

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.

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!

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.

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.

The mosque in town held an open day a couple of months ago, but we missed it as we were visiting dgs for his birthday. I'm keeping an eye on their website in the hope that they have another one soon. DH works with several Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist colleagues. Some of whom -including DH- are all off for a bit of a bonding session over curry this evening! There's a lot of good people out there.

A mosque not far from here was advertising an open day and DH and I said we would go. We forgot to make a note of the date so we missed it. We will go if they have another one.

What a positive and enlightening post gillyb, thank you.

Gillybob what a nice, enlightening WI programme. That we should all be invited to such.

Gillybob wrote -
'I was very surprised how similar the Christian and Muslim religions are too Welshwife.'
There's also a close relationship between Judaism and the Muslim religion. Many of their laws, derived from the OT, are the same. And the spoken language. They're both semites, cousins.
Our eldest son lives in Kuwait, and has Arab/Muslim friends. When I was visiting one of them told me a lot about this, how small the difference was. And yet some of them hate eachother.
Evidently the root is in the rivalry between Ishmael and Isaac, both sons of Abraham.

That was a lovely idea, and each to his own when it comes to faith, but more understanding of the underlying issues does help I am sure.

I fear the similarities between Moslem and Christian is the reason for the conflict between the two. In a completely Christian or Moslem country there are lesser divisions. Catholic/ Protestant, Shia/Sunni. It's a power game. Divide and rule.

My cousin in Sydney put a link on showing people at an Anzac Day parade wearing white t-shirts with Moslems for Peace printed on. Maybe they should not have gone, maybe they had a different message from the one perceived, but the venom and hate in the comments from Australia, USA and other countries against ALL Moslems was really frightening. It was so similar to the confederate US states 50 years ago.

I travelled twice in Pakistan the rural parts. NWFP and the area adjoining the China border. 1st time I was alone, 2nd with OH.

In these rural parts women especially single ones are respected or thought of as fair game.

In the uppermost part of the Swat valley, Malala came from that area, she went to school in Mingora, I stayed one night in a simple lodgings.

Owner said , for eating, you go there, there and nowhere else and be back before 6pm.

I Did so. He slept outside my room with a gun for my safety. All night.

The young men there, all seemed to presume I was on first names with the Queen, and I could get them a visa!

There only entertainment seemed to be raunchy Indian films with overendowed women and mammary glands. Hugely frustrated young men.

There were a trio of eastern europeans there 2 men and 1 woman, they presumed it was share and share for the pleasure on all the trio.

MyOH subsequently has visited Iran, Iraq, Syria and Morocco. He received nothing but kindness, help everywhere.

The kindness you met with at the mosque is typical of Islam.

I am reminded of Staffie dogs and some peoples antipathy to them.

I agree Christinefrance We hear bad things about some people who call themselves Muslims, so we assume that "they are all the same" which is, of course not true. I wonder sometimes if certain sections of the media would rather that we all didn't get along as it makes for better headlines.

The Imam and his team are very modern and forward thinking although it is a very old and long established Mosque.

That's a really good idea gillybob, one that should be extended to other faiths and groups. We so easily believe the worst of people and are influenced by media headlines.
The Imam and members of the mosque sound like a very enlightened group of people. It's good to hear such a positive story in these troubled times.

I was very surprised how similar the Christian and Muslim religions are too Welshwife.

My DGC are taught about various religions at school and have had visits to Mosques and Synagogues too. The school that they attend is a very Christian White British school so its good for them to see and learn about other faiths.

Several times I took primary age pupils to the local RC church, Mosque and Church of Scotland.
The children were very interested in the similarities and differences. They listened to stories and observed customs like removing shoes at the door of the Mosque.
The only 'incident' I remember was one little Muslim girl being upset because granny had scared her with a description of 'the dead man on the cross'.
Liberal Mum wasn't happy when she collected the child and left to have a firm and disapproving word with granny!
A new and very beautiful mosque opened locally recently and on Open Doors Day has welcomed many visitors.

I always feel very sad when I hear of parents refusing to allow their children to participate in visits to our local mosque - even before ISIS became a widely known term/organisation.

It's not as though the children are being taken along to be converted to Islam. It is all about learning about other religions, customs and traditions, and coming to an understanding and acceptance of the differences.

As Elred said above - people fear what they do not understand.

It is such a shame that the minority of Muslims who have turned to terrorism are tarring all Muslims with their brush.