Open Discussions
in association with
Gulf Cultural Club
invite you to Ramadan Experience and seminar titled:
Fasting to enrich the soul in an empty world
with
Dr Rebecca Masterton*
Father Laurence Hillel **
Ausaf Farooqi***
Fasting is a declaration of intention to dissociate from the material world and ascend towards the divine, the absolute and the perfect. While the body may complain of hunger the soul is enriched by prayers, contemplation and meditation. It is a journey that ignores the constraints of time and space and transcends the borders of the human body to join with the eternal power of God. It is a cleansing process much needed in today’s world that approaches the ultimate limits of materialism, consumerism and earthly attractions. While form Muslims the holy month of Ramadan provides the opportunity for this spiritual ascendance and the cleansing of the inner soul other faiths are also familiar with fasting. How does Christianity approach fasting? And how the collective power of faiths can be channelled to ensure this self-cleansing, soul-searching and self-realisation. Come and share with us the Ramadan Experience.
Time: 19.45 -21.15, followed by Iftar (breaking the fast & dinner)
Tuesday, 6th June 2017
Venue: Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, W1H 4LP
*Dr Rebecca Masterton has graduated with a BA in Japanese Language and Literature; an MA in Comparative East Asian and African Literature and a PhD in Islamic literature of West Africa, in which she critiqued the effects of secularism and colonialism upon traditional Islamic teachings on the self, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She converted to Islam in 1999 and came to the Shī‘ī path in 2003. Her interests include the Shī‘ī roots of Islamic mysticism; comparative literature and comparative philosophy. Dr Masterton has been teaching for nearly fifteen years through different media, including one-to-one tuition; short courses at Birkbeck College, University of London; BA and MA programmes at the Islamic College in London, both in-house and on-line; and on-line classes for the Islamic Institute for Postgraduate Studies (Damascus and Birmingham). She has also lectured widely at conferences both in Europe and the United States. She has also worked in media for ten years, producing and presenting programmes for Sahar TV, Press TV, Hadi TV and Ahlulbayt TV. She published many articles and three books: A History of Spirituality in Europe: from Pharaonic Times to the Present Day (London: ICAS Press, forthcoming), 300pps. The Moral World of the Qur’an, by M. A. Draz (London: IB Tauris, 2008) and Passing Through the Dream… (London: Light Reading, 2008)
******Father Laurence Hillel has studied at four British Universities, predominantly in History and Theology, and holds an MA in South Asian Studies from SOAS and an MA in Christianity and Interreligious Relations from Heythrop College. He is an ordained pries in the Church of England and is currently serving at St Anne’s Brondesbury. In his current role as Co-Director of the London Inter Faith Centre and the Bishop of Willesden’s Inter Faith Adviser, he has contacts with a range of Muslim institutions. He was previously Chaplain at Bishop Ramsey Church of England Secondary School Ruislip.
***Ausaf Farooqi is former IT consultant and manager at several companies for eighteen years before his early retirement. He obtained a degree in Mathematics. He was the managing editor of Impact magazine which was a unique Islamic publication for more than three decades.
Admission is Free. Please register for catering purposes – email: d05sa@yahoo.co.uk or text 07795 660 438
