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INTERFAITH
FROM THE HEART
    AFFINITY INTERCULTURAL FOUNDATION AND AUSTRALIAN CHRISTIAN
    MEDITATION COMMUNITY

    ‘Remembrance of One God, Christian – Muslim kind'

    On Friday, the 9 th of June, Affinity Intercultural Foundation along with the
    World Community for Christian Mediation held a joint panel on “
    Remembrance of One God in Islam & Christianity ”. The event was held at
    the Riverside Theatre in Sydney , Australia . There were 350 people present
    and the night was very well received.

    A warm welcome by the Master of Ceremonies, Grahame Ellis, a Protestant
    Church Priest, officially opened the panel. The Bosnian Gazi Husrev Beg
    Choir set the stage with a spiritual tone invoking the coming of “dearest
    One”. The two speakers for this night were Fr Laurence Freeman and Mr.
    Mehmet Ozalp.

    The first speaker, Fr Laurence Freeman, is the Director of the World
    Community for Christian Meditation. He is also a Catholic Benedictine monk.
    Fr Laurence mentioned the art of meditation in remembering the One God
    by using the names of God mentioned by Jesus (pbuh) in the Bible. He
    actually used the original names in Aramaic used by Jesus (pbuh) in the
    Bible to describe God. He used the Aramaic word ‘Maranatha', meaning
    ‘come Lord' to remember God in his meditation. He reflected on the
    teaching of Jesus (pbuh) and remarked that “when you pray, pray in the
    secret room of your heart … do not become over-anxious about material
    anxiety … be mindful and live in the present moment”.

    Fr Laurence gave an insightful remark to the audience urging all,

    “to open the eye of the heart … is like the ending of ignorance and
    awakening in the presence of God, to God … this is contemplation”.

    He also told a famous Muslim story about two of the companions of Prophet
    Muhammad (pbuh) when Abu Talha, who also had very little food to eat,
    sacrificed the food for Abu Hurayra, one of the poorest companions, to that
    over his family. From this act a verse was revealed “ They prefer others
    above themselves, even though they are in poverty themselves. (Quran 59:
    9)”

    Fr Laurence resonated the idea of coming together on common terms and
    commented “being open not just at the level of opinions and ideas but also
    deeply at the level of the heart” .

    The second speaker for the night was Mr. Mehmet Ozalp, who is an author
    and President of the Affinity Intercultural Foundation. His address was to
    respond on ‘how can we bring the presence of God in our lives and how can
    we access His light', and Mr. Ozalp's opening address likened the panel as,

    “… this gathering is like an oasis in the spiritual desert we are in today … I
    strongly believe that when there is a meeting where the discussion
    revolves around God and His remembrance, angels stack in numbers and
    send praises to all involved in discriminatorily … may we all tonight be of
    such gatherings ... ”

    Mr. Ozalp stated that for Muslims, “the most important goal in Islam is to
    attain an intimate relationship with God … live life so that you are pleased
    with Him and He is pleased with you”.

    He further spoke about the four ways of connecting and being intimate with
    God for Muslims. These were through Reflection (tefekkur), Prayer (Salat),
    Supplication (Dua) and actual Remembrance of God (Zikr) through
    mentioning God's beautiful names.

    He mentioned that “we all have background anxiety in our hearts and only it
    is through the remembrance of God that background anxiety will be
    removed and hearts find comfort” .

    Mr. Ozalp mentioned another way for some Muslims and himself personally
    to remember God was to read the Muslim supplication book, Jawshan. This
    particular ‘ supplication has over one thousand ways of relating to God
    through words of praising, glorifying and exalting Him' . He recited one of
    the Jawshan supplications to the audience.

    Mr. Ozalp expressed that it is in the fear of ‘ ostentatious externalism ' and ‘
    the sincerity and authenticity of our intention which is paramount in Islam ',
    that Muslims do not always discuss their spirituality out open, but not to
    make the discussion all ‘ too theoretical' either, he shared his personal
    insights and how mundane daily task can be transformed into trigger points
    of relating thought and heart to God.

    With a short break of meditation conducted by Fr Laurence in ‘silent
    contemplative mode' the evening resumed to the question & answer
    session after which the program was recapitulated and an official thank
    you given by Mrs. Zuleyha Keskin, Vice-President of the Affinity Intercultural
    Foundation, who captured the atmosphere and feel of the evening as
    ‘spiritual' . Mr. Mehmet Saral, Secretary of the Affinity Intercultural
    Foundation, was then invited upon the stage to present gifts to both
    speakers.

    One of the most touching moments of the night occurred when each
    presenter received the wrong presents and in exchanging the presents
    with each other, both Mr. Ozalp and Fr Laurence embraced each other. This
    moment signified the importance of the Abrahamic faith traditions getting
    together to talk about our common God.

    The event was closed by Rev Grahame Ellis who highlighted the critical
    point “ when words are spoken from the heart they will reach hearts and
    when words that are spoken from the mouth, they do not go past the ears.”
    Certainly Mr. Ozalp and Fr Laurence both spoke from the heart and they
    definitely reached the hearts of the audience, who were made up of both
    Christian and Muslim guests.   

    Makiz Ansari
    Affinity Intercultural Foundation
    Australia
    June 2006
One God Panel
Renenbrance of One God
Medieval depiction of a Christian and Muslim playing chess