Open Discussions
in association with
Gulf Cultural Club
invites you to a Discussion titled:
Lent, Easter and Ramadan
Religious practices in post-modern world
*John Parry (United Reformed Church minister)
** Shaykh Ayub Rashid (Religious scholar, Imam and activist)
*** Hannah Brown (member of the Joint Public Issues Team at the Methodist Church)
Lent is a time when Christians are expected to observe special prayers, fasting to mark this time of repentance and reflect on the life of Jesus Christ. We take this opportunity to explore the commonalities between Christianity and Islam, how faith can play role in the post-modern world and help reconstruct the human soul on the path to establish justice, promote compassion and defeat evil. How relevant is religion to the modern world? And how can Christians and Muslims work together to achieve a better world?
6.30pm, Tuesday, 16th April 2019
Venue: Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, W1H 4LP
*John Parry is a United Reformed Church minister, originally ordained in the Church of Bangladesh. On returning to this country he lived for 14 years in Southall and established a centre for dialogue in the King’s Hall Methodist Church. He holds a PhD on the history and theology of the encounter of Sikhs and Christians both in the UK and in India. He taught World Church Studies and World Faiths in The Partnership for Theological Education in Manchester and at the University of Bangor. He has been a guest lecturer in India, Madagascar, Samoa and Taiwan. On so-called retirement he moved to be the minister of a small congregation of the United Reformed Church in North West London and is the Director of the London Interfaith Centre.
**Shaykh Ayub Rashid was born in Arusha, Tanzania, studied Islamic Sciences at the Islamic seminary of of Qom, Iran where he graduated as a qualified scholar. He holds BA in Islamic law and MA in Islam and Community Studies in the UK. He is a qualified Muslim Chaplain from Markfield Institute of Higher Education in Leicester UK, and is currently a lecturer of Islamic College for Advanced Studies in London and the Imam of Friday Jamaat with Khairul Amal Trust in London. He regularly lectures in the UK, US, Canada, Middle East and Africa where his audiences have benefited from his inspiring lectures on the Qur’an and the Ahlulbayt.
***Hannah Brown is member of the Joint Public Issues Team at the Methodist Church. She recently graduated from the University of Nottingham, with a degree in English Language and Literature. She spent three years with the Christian Union.
Having grown up in a lively Methodist Church, Hannah inherited a faith where social justice was placed firmly at the centre. She joined Church family on protests and demonstrations, on door to door fundraising endeavours and to deliver food bank collections. Working with local churches in Nottingham and York on community engagement, she began to offer radical welcome in increasingly divided communities. Hannah is keen to understand how inequality is built into both our governing systems and our social mind-set, and how we can respond by standing firmly in the margins, amplifying the voice of those silenced instead of our own.
Admission is Free. Please register for catering purposes – email: d05sa@yahoo.co.uk or text 07795 660 438
