‘We are all the same’ in Spain as Barcelona church hosts Ramadan iftar dinners

This is so wonderful. It’s even Qur’anic: “And do not argue with the people of the book unless it be in what is better, except with those among them who do wrong, and say, We believe in what has been revealed to us and revealed to you, our Allah and your Allah is one, and to him we are Muslims.” (Qur’an 29:46)

Now: when will the local mosques host Lenten dinners, or any other Christian event?

Once again we see that “outreach” always goes in one direction only, and that the hand of friendship is only ever extended by one party.

Hafid Oubrahim says: “We are all like brothers and we must help each other too.”

Well, not exactly. The Qur’an says that all Muslims are brothers: “The believers are nothing other than brothers. Therefore, make peace between your brothers and observe your duty to Allah, so that perhaps you may obtain mercy.” (Qur’an 49:10). It never says, however, that Muslims and non-believers are brothers.

Faouzia Chati says: “People are very happy that Muslims can do Iftar in a Catholic church, because religions serve to unite us, not to separate us.”

Well, not exactly. The Qur’an says: “O you who believe, do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends. They are friends of one another. He among you who takes them for friends is of them. Indeed, Allah does not guide wrongdoing people.” (Qur’an 5:51). Does that sound like a call to unite with unbelievers to you?

The story also contains this: “Sanchez looked on as a man intoned the Muslim evening call to prayer beneath the orange trees of the church’s central courtyard…”

The adhan, prayed in Arabic, goes like this:

Allah is greater (Allahu akbar); intoned four times.

I testify that there is no God but Allah (Ashhadu anna la ila ill Allah); intoned twice.

I testify that Mohammed is Allah’s Prophet (Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasul Allah); intoned twice.

Come to prayer (Hayya alas salah); intoned twice.

Come to security/salvation (Hayya alal falah); intoned twice.

Allah is greater (Allahu akbar); intoned twice.

There is no God but Allah (La ilah ill Allah); intoned once.

Dr. Gavin Ashenden, former chaplain to the British queen, who resigned his position in protest against a Qur’an reading in a Scottish church, observed that “the Muslim call to prayer is a dramatic piece of Islamic triumphalism. It proclaims Islam’s superiority over all other religions, and in so doing casts Jesus in the role of a charlatan and a liar. The Muslim god, Allah, is unknowable and has no son. Jesus was, therefore, a fraud in claiming He and the Father are one.”

Is Santa Anna church in Barcelona really wise to allow on its grounds a declaration of the superiority of Islam, a faith that directs its adherents to make war against Christians and other non-Muslims and subjugate them as inferiors under the hegemony of believers (cf. Qur’an 9:29)?

“‘We are all the same’ – Barcelona church opens doors to Ramadan dinners,” by Luis Felipe Castilleja and Jordi Rubio, Reuters, May 3, 2021 (thanks to Darcy):

BARCELONA (Reuters) – With COVID-19 restrictions preventing Barcelona’s Islamic population from celebrating Ramadan at the usual indoor venues, a Catholic church has offered up its open-air cloisters for Muslims to eat and pray together.

Every evening between 50 and 60 Muslims, many of them homeless, stream into the centuries-old stone passages of the Santa Anna church, where volunteers offer a hearty meal of home-cooked food.

“We are all the same… If you are Catholic or of another religion and I am Muslim, that’s fine,” said Hafid Oubrahim, a 27-year old Moroccan of Berber descent who attends the dinners.

“We are all like brothers and we must help each other too.”…

Faouzia Chati, president of the Catalan Association of Moroccan Women, used to organise Iftar gatherings in the city, but limits on indoor dining forced her to seek an alternative space with good ventilation and room for distancing.

She found a receptive ear in Father Peio Sanchez, Santa Anna’s rector, who sees the meeting of different faiths as emblematic of civic coexistence.

“People are very happy that Muslims can do Iftar in a Catholic church, because religions serve to unite us, not to separate us,” said Chati.

Sanchez looked on as a man intoned the Muslim evening call to prayer beneath the orange trees of the church’s central courtyard, illuminated by the flames of gas heaters….