By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, April 24, 2020: An association that has fostered Christian-Muslim cooperation more than four decades has greeting the Muslim community that on April 24 began Ramadan, a month of intense fasting and prayers.
“We have experienced that Ramadan is the happiest time and eagerly awaited by every Muslim friend whom we know. In this holy month, you commemorate the revelation of the Qur’an. Along with you we thank God for the way you honor the Holy Book by reading and contemplating its holy verses,” says a message from the Islamic Studies Association.
Association secretary Jesuit Father Victor Edwin, who has signed the message, says Christians “are truly inspired” by the Muslims’ commitment to fasting between dawn and sunset.
“We realize that this fasting is a way of submitting your will to the Will of God as it is revealed in the Qur’an. It is encouraging to see, how you thank God for God’s gracious providence with your family members, when you finish your fasting for the day with the iftar,” the message says.
Iftar is the evening meal with which Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset.
Father Edwin, who teaches in Delhi’s Vidyajyoti College of Theology, says a mosques in their locality invites people of other faiths to join them in iftar. “This gesture symbolizes your openness and friendliness towards all people of God,” the Jesuit says.
The Jesuit dialogue activists finds it “heartening” to see the way many Muslims observe the last week of Ramadan month.
“As Muslims, you await for the final day, during the month of Ramadan. Many of you spend the entire night following the 27th day of Ramadan in the mosque reading the Qur’an or listening to its recitation and performing recommended prayers. When the last judgment arrives, you hope to be found in prayer.”
The Jesuit priest find similarities between this religious practice of Muslims and the exhortation of Jesus Christ: “Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place and stand before the Son of Man (Luke. 21:26).”
The message shared the anxieties of Muslims and others “in these difficult times of Covid 19 breakout that pushed peoples across the continents into ‘lockdown’ situations” offered the association’s prayers for God’s healing touch on all.
“We pray for God’s consolation to those families that lost their loved ones during this pandemic. We pray specially for the doctors and hospital staff and volunteers who serve the sick in these most difficult times,” the message adds.
The Islamic Studies Association was founded in 1979 by a group of scholars and friends in the framework of the Vidyajyoti College of Theology. Since then ISA has served Christian-Muslim relations in entire South Asia.
Its members teach Islam and interreligious dialogue in a number of universities and academic institutes throughout India. One of the major ISA publications was the handbook “The Muslims of India: Beliefs and Practices,” edited by Jesuit Father Paul Jackson of Patna.
This book focuses on the Indian Muslims by giving the general Islamic background needed for others to understand them better. The quarterly journal “Salaam” is another important service ISA has been rendering to promote Christian-Muslim relations in the context of pluralistic India for the last 40 years uninterruptedly.