Muslim and Jewish leaders from Oakville joined together last month to confront anti-Semitism and Islamophobia at a twinning event this month.
A.Q. Mufti of Al-Falah Mosque and Rabbi Stephen Wise of Shaarei-Beth El Congregation held a Weekend of Twinning along with synagogues and mosques all across North America.
The Weekend of Twinning resulted from a resolution passed at the National Summit of Imams and Rabbis held a few years in New York and hosted by The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU).
The success of the National Summit led organizers to expand the interfaith dialogue model to include congregations across North America to directly confront instances of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
Throughout the Weekend of Twinning, 50 mosques and 50 synagogues representing over 100,000 Muslims and Jews throughout the United States and Canada will join together to confront Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and to strengthen the relationship between the Jewish and Muslim communities.
There have been, for generations, a series of misunderstandings by Jews and Muslims on what the other community thinks and practices,” said Rabbi Stephen Wise.
A.Q. Mufti concurred, “These misperceptions have unfortunately led to tensions between our two communities, yet for most of our history we have so much in common.”
Mufti and Wise sit together on the Halton Interfaith Council and hope to promote more education and dialogue among the diverse ethnic and religious communities of Halton.
