Quaker - Tim Winters
Cabut from dept at about 1300hr yesterday. Met the rest of the gang at the train station. And off we went to London. There was a dialogue session with Hamza Yusof, Tim Winters, Tim Garton Ash and Terry Waite. The theme was Citizenship, The West and Islam. Interestingly the venue was at the Friend's house owned by the Quaker. I've always thought that the Quakers are like this hermit community who lives in the US living in a sort of orthodoxie way. From the box.. the Quakers are potrayed as people who live on farms- away from the so called civilisation-cooped up in their small little world and wear black dresses. The men would wear black hats (just like the Quaker Oat man from your Quaker oat tin!) and the women wear black dresses with headscarves. Googled away this morning and it seems that these people no longer live like this .. or maybe they have never lived like this. But their main faith is that they believe that each individual has a 'piece' of God in them etc. Not really clear on this one but clearly Astaghfirullah al adzim!
The chairperson or what they call the 'mediator' in dialogues like these was Tim Winters. We have never heard of him before. Before the start of the session, a friend was commenting on why did the organisers let a non-muslim be the mediator..he's bound to be biased at one point or another (The main organiser is a publisher of an Islamic magazine). But ..once he stood at the podium and said 'Assalamualaikum' .. - quoted the hadith of the Prophet (p.b.u.h) and more ayah from the Quran...he really blew me away or rather his knowledge on Islam makes me look like i was borned a Muslim just yesterday! I was like ... Subhanallah... Islam is really a beauty. You dun judge people from the cover but what is inside that counts... what Allah sees that matter.
After the talk. Saudi housemate introduced us to an Arab grocery shop off Edgware Rd. As usual I get a tad excited when it comes to shopping ;). Bought Shawerma-Middle East sandwich at the shop. Got a bit carried away.. took the last train to Kent. Arrived home at nearly 2am... a time when even the milkman has started his morning rounds.
Off to London again today for the RSS meet 8( alone =).
The chairperson or what they call the 'mediator' in dialogues like these was Tim Winters. We have never heard of him before. Before the start of the session, a friend was commenting on why did the organisers let a non-muslim be the mediator..he's bound to be biased at one point or another (The main organiser is a publisher of an Islamic magazine). But ..once he stood at the podium and said 'Assalamualaikum' .. - quoted the hadith of the Prophet (p.b.u.h) and more ayah from the Quran...he really blew me away or rather his knowledge on Islam makes me look like i was borned a Muslim just yesterday! I was like ... Subhanallah... Islam is really a beauty. You dun judge people from the cover but what is inside that counts... what Allah sees that matter.
After the talk. Saudi housemate introduced us to an Arab grocery shop off Edgware Rd. As usual I get a tad excited when it comes to shopping ;). Bought Shawerma-Middle East sandwich at the shop. Got a bit carried away.. took the last train to Kent. Arrived home at nearly 2am... a time when even the milkman has started his morning rounds.
Off to London again today for the RSS meet 8( alone =).
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