People from 3 faiths gather for a meal to end Muslim fast and start talking

By Robert King
robert.king@indystar.com

The people from the synagogue made a place for their Muslim guests to break their daily Ramadan fast in an airy chapel, one adorned with a banner featuring the most Jewish of symbols -- a Torah scroll, a menorah and a burning bush.

The Jewish hosts, with an assist from two of the city's most recognizable Christian churches, scrambled hospitably to spread out prayer rugs for the 60 or so Muslims. When kneeling, they would face northeast, as requested -- and in the direction of a stained-glass window symbolic of the Ten Commandments.

So as the Muslim faithful looked to Mecca, they could see, just to their right, the chapel's ark, which holds the Torah scrolls, and just above it, an eternal flame representative of the pillar of fire that led the Hebrew people across the Egyptian desert. Here, the imam sang out the Muslim call to prayer. And the robed women, most with hijabs covering their heads, prostrated themselves in prayer as if praying in a Jewish house of worship were the most natural thing in the world.

Yet, in Indianapolis, the scene that played out here Sunday night at Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation was far from ordinary.

"We know of nowhere else in the country where this has happened," said Rabbi Jon Adland of IHC, the city's oldest Jewish congregation.

For people representing three faiths with centuries of ugly history -- siblings supposedly on the brink of a clash of civilizations -- it was a warm and cordial affair.

"I think there is a warming-up between the two faiths," said Yaseen Al-Khattab, a 35-year-old information technology consultant who attended the event. In this case, he spoke of the historic tension between Jews and Muslims. "I think there's more seeing each other as human beings more than political opposites. It is very appealing and warm to the heart to see this."

Seated around Al-Khattab, a black Muslim and the son of a local imam, was a white Jewish cantor and her husband, an older white Christian couple, a matronly black Muslim woman, and a Turkish Muslim couple who immigrated to the United States. And they didn't have trouble finding things to talk about.

There wasn't much discussion about politics, which is radioactive even within homogenous groups these days. But the group was so cordial that it probably could have made some progress in the Middle East peace process.

Aside from IHC, the hosts for the event were Second Presbyterian Church and St. Luke's United Methodist Church. All three congregations make it a point to engage in interfaith work. The lead clergy from each has taken a trip to Turkey with the Holy Dove Foundation, an active local Muslim group that organized the Muslim community's participation in Sunday's iftar, or breaking of the fast.

Leaders from each congregation say the real challenge now for Holy Dove and its engaging leader, Bilal Eksili, is to branch out from these relationships to folks in the local religious establishment more reluctant to engage in interfaith work -- Catholic leaders and pastors from conservative evangelical megachurches.

Eksili acknowledges that such steps are important even if not easy. But he has made progress and new friends in recent years with a secret weapon -- invitations to dinner.

"This is a must right now. You need to reach out," he said. "By supporting dialogue and education, you can remove the misunderstandings, bring people together and support global peace."