Religion & Society

This dialogue between Christians and Muslims could have happened in virtually any Western English-speaking country: Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, as well as the USA. In actual fact, it took place at a suburban mosque in Melbourne. A colleague and I took a group of 15 of our students for the purposes of exposure to Islam and meeting Muslims in the flesh, rather than just reading about them. On arrival, we were greeted by the local Sheikh, a Pakistani by origin, his son, who is born and bred in Australia, and another Sheikh who was visiting from Egypt We were all led into the prayer room where we sat in a large circle, with all eyes trained on our Muslim hosts. After introducing ourselves by name, the Sheikh and his son addressed us for 15 minutes, presenting the basic information about Islamic belief and practice: the Five Pillars and the Core Articles of Faith. However, this seemingly gentle introduction included a sting in the tail, as we were informed that the Bible we h...

The Marrakesh Declaration , ignored by the mainstream media, has been acclaimed as a new dawn by some commentators: as promising an era of tolerance and pluralistic harmony in the Muslim-majority regions, where religious minorities have suffered so much for so long. With so much bad news coming from the Muslim world, new voices of hope are bound to receive a warm welcome. Between 25–27 January, around 300 dignitaries gathered in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh under the auspices of King Mohammed VI of Morocco. This event represented the culmination of four years of planning, led by Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah of Abu Dhabi, President of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies. The conference title was ‘The Rights of Religious Minorities in Predominantly Muslim Majority Communities: Legal Framework and a Call to Action’. As the name suggests, its specific goal was to address the discrimination and persecution experienced by religious minorities living under Islamic major...

The Wedding Song (Le Chant des Mariées) Released 2009 Director: Karin Albou Writer: Karin Albou Country: France / Tunisia Language: In French and Arabic with subtitles Runtime: 100mins Broadcast on SBS 11 November 2009 This excellent film, set in Tunisia in 1942 during the German occupation, focuses on two 16 year old girls, Myriam (Jewish) and Nour (Muslim). Both their families are poor; Nour because that is her family’s lot, and Myriam because she and her mother have fallen on hard times after the death of her father. The two families live in adjoining apartments overlooking the same courtyard in the alleyways of Tunis, where the two girls have grown up together, developing a strong sisterly bond and sharing secrets and dreams of love. Myriam has been to school and is literate; Nour has not attended school, so Myriam has taught her to read Arabic. The girls consider their different religious faiths as being of no consequence to their friendship. Each girl is to be married off by thei...