September
11 A Year Later Unusual charity for unusual times
By CLAIRE
SCHAEFFER-DUFFY
This is not your typical buildings and grounds project, but then
these are not typical times.
Episcopalians from the diocese of New York, many of them
personally affected by events of Sept. 11, are helping rebuild a mosque in
Afghanistan that was bombed by the United States last fall. Working with Afghan
Muslims from Masjid Hazrat-i-Abubakar, a mosque in Flushing, N.Y., the
Episcopalians have raised more than half of the needed $37,764. Reconstruction,
which began in August, is expected to be completed by the end of this fall.
Impetus for the unique interfaith project came from members of the
Episcopalian clergy and a Muslim imam (prayer leader), all of whom were eager
to exemplify religions concern for the common good during a time when the
threat of terrorism has challenged Muslim and Christian identity.
I have learned over the years that all the people of God
have this in common: We understand that God loves us and we are supposed to
help other people. Both our peoples do this, said the Rev. Stephen
Holton, an Episcopal parish priest from Ossining, N.Y. Holton was speaking to
Muslim village elders at a June meeting in the Qurabagh District Mosque.
Villagers say the mosque, located just north of Kabul, was hit
some time last fall after the Taliban occupied the building and began using it
as a military base. They say the Taliban were shooting from the windows and
ignored pleas from locals who approached, Quran in hand, and begged the
combatants, for the sake of the Book, not to use the building as a cover for
battle. Although a U.S. bomb damaged two walls and the roof, much of the
building is still standing.
The idea for rebuilding the mosque originated with Bishop Mark S.
Sisk of the Episcopal diocese of New York last October. He heard that a
mosque had been bombed in the Kabul area. It was on the news for about a day,
and he was interested in a ground zero to ground zero exchange, Holton
said.
Sisk, who became New Yorks diocesan bishop Sept. 29, just
weeks after terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center, has made
Christian/Muslim dialogue a central theme of his first year. He hosted
President Mohammad Khatami of the Islamic Republic of Iran last November and
members of the World Muslim League in late June.
I believe that it is our duty as Christian leaders,
witnesses to the promises of the living Lord, to take initiatives that can bind
up the wounds of the human community, said Sisk in his annual address to
the faithful, given June 8.
In late spring Ravan Farhadi, U.N. ambassador from Afghanistan,
introduced Sisk to Imam Mohammad Sherzad, Muslim cleric for the
Hazrat-i-Abubakar Mosque and president of the Afghan Forum for Peace and
Rehabilitation. Speaking through a translator, Sherzad said he was kind
of surprised and very pleased that a religious leader from a different
religion wanted to rebuild a mosque. Although they are coming from a
different religion, they are saying we are building a place of worship. That
means we all worship God, he said.
In early June, shortly before both men left for Afghanistan,
Sherzad met Holton, a founding member of the Episcopal-Muslim Relations
Committee. Traveling as an elected delegate to Afghanistans Loya Jirga,
or grand tribal council, Sherzad raised $8,000 for the Qurabagh mosque before
leaving for Kabul.
Holton, who went on behalf of Sisk, traveled with an interfaith
delegation, organized by the San Francisco-based human rights organization
Global Exchange, which had assisted in identifying the location of the mosque.
Holton said the trip had the full support of his Ossining parish and he saw it
as an opportunity to build relationships with Afghan Muslims.
Our country is good at projecting force, and that seems to
be the only way we know how to interact with the world, said Holton. He
said he wanted to show that Christians are hospitable and maybe Americans
are not so bad.
On June 23, Sherzad and Holton met with Muslim male elders from
the Qurabagh congregation. Their Sunday meeting, held in the ruined mosque,
dealt with the practical and sublime. Sherzad spoke specifically of plans to
rebuild. Holton quoted from the Quran and the Bible.
By the end of their brief stay in Afghan- istan, imam and priest
had settled on a contractor, come up with a building plan and selected
Hashimatullah Hakimyar, a local employee of the international aid agency CARE,
to oversee the project. Holton credited their speedy progress to the hard work
of Sherzad and the energy of the Afghan people, which he described as so
stunning and impressive, given that 70 percent of the country is reduced to
rubble.
Although each village in Afghan- istan has its own mosque, these
are typically very modest. The district masjid (place of prostration) however,
is akin to a house of worship and pastoral center combined. Here, the faithful
gather for Friday prayers and for annual celebrations like Eid, which marks the
end of Ramadan. There are classrooms for religious instructions, and this is
where families come to consult with the imam.
According to Sherzad, the old Qurabagh District Mosque
inadequately accommodated between 400 and 500 worshipers. Plans for
reconstruction include expanding the entryway, making the minaret taller and
enlarging the well area where ritual ablutions are performed before prayer.
He said the people of Qurabagh believe its kind of a miracle
that a Christian, someone from another religion, came to their country and
showed respect for their religion. Their situation, as they describe it,
is paradoxical. The Taliban, their coreligionists, helped destroy the mosque
and then a different religion comes to repair it, he said.
The people wonder, Is this something from God that has brought
these people together to help each other?
I have never felt so completely used by God in all my
life, said Holton. One thing I told people is that as Christians,
we believe in unconditional love. And what love could be more unconditional
than building a house of worship for another people that we as Christians could
not possibly use?
Claire Schaefffer-Duffy is a freelance writer living in
Worchester, Mass.
National Catholic Reporter, September 6,
2002
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