come together

Last night, our stake held a meeting and invited people to join and learn about the Islam faith. Our church building hosts the local Muslim group every Friday for prayers since the do not have their own facility in the St. Charles area.

It was a really neat experience learning about their faith from the Mufti Asif as he taught us "Islam 101" as he called it. It was a wonderful opportunity for our two faiths to learn about each other and have respect for one another.

Hearing some of the background of the religion reminded me about they things I learned in middle school about the 5 pillars of Islam. I remember really enjoying those lessons in social studies and history learning about other faiths.

It was enlightening to know that we, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have some similar beliefs to the Islamic faith. Here are some things that I believe are similar:

- They believe in people that are in the Bible
- Life after death -- everlasting life
- Earth life is a test -- we are here to prove our faith and morality; it is a small part of our path
- One God
- Dedication to prayer
- Fasting
- Charitable giving; tithing; service
- Believe in Jesus and His miracles & healings
- Modest dress
- God hears all our prayers
- Daily family worship includes prayers & scripture study
- They have a foundation of their faith -- The 5 pillars of Islam which includes declaration of faith, 5 prayers a day, Hajj -- a trip to Mecca, fasting & charitable giving; we have a foundation of faith in the scriptures, prayer, testimonies, etc.

Something that really influenced me from this was that we need to look at culture vs. religion and not mix them together to create judgments. He also taught us that jihad means "to struggle" and that it is certain taken out of context in the media.

Really grateful that Austin had a desire to go to this meeting and that we did not miss this opportunity to educate ourselves, support our church and support our brothers and sister in all faiths.