Practice of fasting in different religions

With the overwhelming success of the AMI Big Iftar event in 2014, Al-Mahdi Institute continued its success by hosting another big Iftar on Saturday 4th July 2015. The aim of the event was to invite people of all faiths and none to participate and experience an Iftar with people of all religious and cultural backgrounds. In keeping with the spirit of the holy month of Ramadhan, the aim of the event was to encourage multi-faith dialogue within a diverse range of faiths and beliefs through talks and poetry discussing the practice of fasting in different religions. The event received an impressive turnout of over 100 people of all faiths and none who came together to share the ceremonial breaking of the fast with each other.

Led by Shaykh Mohammad Amin Evans, the evening commenced with a beautiful Qur’an recitation by Mr Mohammad Moti followed by a talk by Mrs Mahdiyah Abdulhussain exploring the practice of fasting in Islam and its benefits. Representing Christianity, Revd. Dr Richard Sudworth spoke about the practice of fasting in Christianity with a recital of holy scriptures from the Bible. Mr Jas Singh Sharma spoke about the practice of fasting in Hinduism followed by a recital of bhajans by Acharya Yadav Samaj and finally Rabbi Margaret Jacobi spoke about fasting in Judaism with a beautiful recitation of a religious hymn.

The evening drew to a close with closing remarks by Dr Ali-reza Bhojani who shed light on the spirit of Ramadhan and the activities of Al-Mahdi Institute followed by congregational prayers in AMI gardens and Iftar.

Here is what some of the guests had to say about the event..

“Thank-you for inviting us to last night’s end of Ramadan celebration event.  We both really enjoyed it and found it most interesting…”

“Thank-you so much for arranging the wonderful Big Iftar event; I had invited my neighbours, they really enjoyed it, as did I!”

“We just wanted to say a very big ‘Thank You’ to everyone at the Almahdi Institute for a lovely Big Iftar evening on Saturday.  Not only was it most enjoyable to have multi-faith sharing on this happy occasion but on a more personal basis, it was great for us to see how lovely the landscape gardens are looking.  Such a wonderful transformation from what was there previously and a permanent reminder of how you are loving what had been a very treasured building for the many Christian Missionaries like ourselves, who were trained there over many decades.”

“Thank you for allowing me to join you on such a wonderful evening last Saturday, I found it really inspiring. I am also still amazed I won the lovely basket of goodies!”

“My wife Trisha and I would like to thank you for your invitation to participate in yesterday evening’s “Big Iftar” at the Institute. We were greatly blessed and enjoyed the presentations, meeting friends and making new ones, and the meal itself. It was a special occasion I am sure for everyone there, which had entailed careful planning and commitment on the part of the Al-Mahdi community. Please accept and convey our deep appreciation to everyone who was involved and contributed so much.”

To watch the full recording of the event, please click here.

To view more images from the event, please click here.

(Photography by ‘we take pictures’)