An interfaith teaching

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

The basic tenets of Islam, some of the commonalities between the Torah and the Koran and the main differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims were the topics of discussion last weekend at Ahavat Olam Synagogue.

Ahavat Olam holds services at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. On June 21, Al-Hajj Usama Al-Atar was the guest teacher.

"Usama is devoted to interfaith sharing," wrote Ahavat Olam Rabbi David Mivasair in the e-mail invitation to the Shabbat event. "We've been together many times in conferences, panels, TV interviews, interfaith events, etc.... Usama impresses me as a very thoughtful, knowledgeable and faithful Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim. He serves as an imam, i.e. a prayer leader and religious teacher, here in the Vancouver area, mostly for Arabic-speaking Shi'ites, but also for some in the Persian-speaking community, as well."

Al-Atar is originally from Karbala, Iraq. He immigrated to Canada with his family in the early 1990s, getting a B.Sc. in chemistry from the University of British Columbia. He then lived in the United States for a number of years, before returning to Vancouver in 2005. He is currently pursuing a PhD at Simon Fraser University.

Mivasair said in his e-mail that he came to invite Al-Atar to services through the Muslim-Jewish Feed the Hungry project, in which community members from both faiths go to First United Church Mission once a month to organize, prepare and serve a meal to about 300 people in the Downtown Eastside area. One participant in the project particularly impressed Mivasair with her deep spirituality, intelligence and ability, so he asked her about how her inspiration and guidance had come to her.

"She told me it is the teaching of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who I had heard of only in the context of political commentary and speculation because of his being the most preeminent Shi'ite cleric in Iraq," wrote Mivasair. "I realized that all I had ever heard about him was 'political,' nothing at all about his religious or spiritual teachings." When Mivasair asked for more information, the woman referred him to her teacher, Al-Atar.

Al-Atar said he came to Ahavat Olam to learn and educate, as well as for pleasure. In explaining the words to Sim Shalom just prior to Al-Atar's talk, Mivasair translated the term brachah, blessings, and Al-Atar, armed with this new knowledge, began his lecture by wishing that there may be many brachot for those gathered, and for the world in general.

He went on to describe the basic beliefs that unite all Muslims: the unity of God (Alláh), the prophets (of which there were 124,000, according to the Hadith, the oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of Prophet Mohammed) and the Day of Judgment. Particular to Shi'ite beliefs, he added two tenets: belief in absolute, divine justice and in the 12 divine disciples.

The line of Mohammed came to an end in the ninth century, when the 12th imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi, disappeared – Shias do not believe that he died; rather that he is in a state of occultation. Although hidden, he is aware of the actions of human beings and will reappear to spread justice throughout the world at the time of the Messiah – who, Al-Attar explained, is Jesus (Isa) for Muslims.

This notion brought comparisons to Prophet Elijah, who, according to Jewish tradition, will herald the coming of the Messiah (a descendant of King David). There was also talk of other similarities, mainly etween the Hebrew and Arabic terms for certain concepts and the people who are considered prophets in both religions.

Al-Atar, a skilled reciter of the Koran and sacred poetry, recited a section that mentioned one of the books of Alláh, the Taurat, the book revealed to Músa (Moses). He discussed the section of the Koran in which Músa becomes a prophet to the Jewish people.

In addition, Al-Atar gave a concise and easy-to-understand overview of the origins of the Shia/Sunni split, which occurred soon after Prophet Mohammed died, as well as the differences that remain today. Most notably, that Shias look to fuqaha' (jurists), experts in Islamic law, and marjas, fuqaha' that people are permitted to follow, such as al-Sistani, who is the religious guide for millions of Iraqis. Al-Atar said that there is no such structure in Sunni Islam and individual clerics – such as Osama bin Laden – have more influence and may induce others to follow them by selectively quoting/interpreting passages from the Koran.

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