I was reading the thread about Cordoba's Cathedral in the World Affairs section, which made me wonder about this question.
Rather than putting it into the thread there, I decided to start a new thread here.

My question is:
Has anybody been to a place of worship, where Muslims and Christians worship side by side? (At least Eric and Dawud_uk have made references to having participated in this kind of joint worship)
If so, what is that like?
Do people think it is beneficial? Or should it be avoided?
Has it been interesting/helpful/distracting/annoying to watch others worship the same God in different ways?

Thank you.

Peace

peace glo,

in islam we do not believe the worship of the christians to be valid as they are associating partners with Allah with their trinity concepts and worshipping the prophet Isa (jesus) peace be upon him along with Allah and what you term the holy spirit.

however a christian or indeed anyone should be welcomed if they come to the masjid and if they do they are allowed to stand in prayer with us, and take part and we wouldnt turn them away from the masjid unless they started to try to preach their faith to us.

peace,
Abu Abdullah

Originally Posted by Dawud_uk

peace glo,

in islam we do not believe the worship of the christians to be valid as they are associating partners with Allah with their trinity concepts and worshipping the prophet Isa (jesus) peace be upon him along with Allah and what you term the holy spirit.

however a christian or indeed anyone should be welcomed if they come to the masjid and if they do they are allowed to stand in prayer with us, and take part and we wouldnt turn them away from the masjid unless they started to try to preach their faith to us.

peace,
Abu Abdullah

Greetings, Abu Abdullah

So from your point of view it is a case of 'we can only worship together if you worship our way'?

What if Christians come to your mosque to stand in prayer with you, but you know that in their hearts they believe Jesus to be divine (even if they don't speak of it in your presence)?

Peace

Originally Posted by glo

Greetings, Abu Abdullah

So from your point of view it is a case of 'we can only worship together if you worship our way'?

What if Christians come to your mosque to stand in prayer with you, but you know that in their hearts they believe Jesus to be divine (even if they don't speak of it in your presence)?

Peace

to answer your first point, yes that is correct. i do not believe your prayers or methods of prayer to be valid in the sight of God as i know it from the light of the Quran and the example left to us from Muhammad saws. therefore i cannot accept your's as a valid method of reaching God, hope this doesnt offend you but as you know i dont lie this is just me being honest here.

and to answer your 2nd point,
they can believe what they want in their hearts and maybe them being there surrounded by good polite nice people will change their hearts for the better or at least make them more sympathetic towards the muslims in the uk so in my masjid we welcome them and have had people praying with us before, in fact i was going to the masjid to pray with the muslims but i decided that that night i would revert instead.

peace,
Abu Abdullah

Thank you, Abu Abdullah

Using Dawud's logic, isn't that a hypocritical stance to take in the context of the Cordoba issue?

Can i poke my nose in here too? You know i can't help myself.

We do have a place where Sikhs and Muslims pray together, so it's safe to say we can all unite to pray to God under one banner be it Christian, Jew, Hindu Jain etc etc without trying to kill each other or trying to convert.

Guru Ki Maseet. (Mosque of the Guru)

http://www.info-sikh.com/MassPage1.html

Hey.


The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) allowed the Christians of Najraan to pray in his mosque, facing towards their “qiblah” (direction of prayer).

End quote from Ahkaam Ahl al-Dhimmah, 2/819-823.

Extracted from IslamQA

Originally Posted by AvarAllahNoor

Can i poke my nose in here too? You know i can't help myself.

We do have a place where Sikhs and Muslims pray together, so it's safe to say we can all unite to pray to God under one banner be it Christian, Jew, Hindu Jain etc etc without trying to kill each other or trying to convert.

Guru Ki Maseet. (Mosque of the Guru)

http://www.info-sikh.com/MassPage1.html

Thanks, AvarAllahNoor

Permission to post granted!

So what is it like when people of different faiths pray together?
Or do different faiths take it 'in turn'? (There is a picture in your link of Sikhs watching Muslims pray.)
Presumaby, when prayer is organised in a certain ritual/routine, you cannot easily have different groups praying together ...?
(I mean, for example, you couldn't have hundreds of Muslims standing in orderly lines, praying, and a bunch of pentecostal Christians jumping around and shaking tambourines ... )

How does it work in practice?
Have you yourself participated in joint worship?

thats so cool! Sikhs sitting their watchin and Muslims praying. Neato i say

And to glo...^^LOL. u cracked me up

Originally Posted by Tayyaba

thats so cool! Sikhs sitting their watchin and Muslims praying. Neato i say

And to glo...^^LOL. u cracked me up

Greetings, Tayyaba

Well, I can shake a tambourine with the best of them ... although often I choose other, more gentle ways to worship the Lord.

Peace

^^ which by the way is the correct way, in my opinion. with silence not noise. with focus not distraction...

Originally Posted by Tayyaba

^^ which by the way is the correct way, in my opinion. with silence not noise. with focus not distraction...

Yes, I know what you mean, Tayyaba.
But I suppose it is personal preference - God himself looks at the heart and at the intention behind our worship. I don't think he minds just how we worship him, as long as we are sincere.

And David is reported to have sung and danced before the Lord, and he wrote many of the Psalms ... so dancing, singing and making music are all approriate ways of worship for most Christians.

Originally Posted by glo

Thanks, AvarAllahNoor

Permission to post granted!

So what is it like when people of different faiths pray together?
Or do different faiths take it 'in turn'? (There is a picture in your link of Sikhs watching Muslims pray.)

Presumaby, when prayer is organised in a certain ritual/routine, you cannot easily have different groups praying together ...?

(I mean, for example, you couldn't have hundreds of Muslims standing in orderly lines, praying, and a bunch of pentecostal Christians jumping around and shaking tambourines ... )

How does it work in practice?

Have you yourself participated in joint worship?

Well how i see it is you can't have a muslim bowing down and the christian banging his tamborine. You need to focus. - The Mosque is used by Muslims only, but Sikhs will pray there too. (We don't need anything to focus on or any particular direction) It's like using a shared community centre. You'd have your own ways but coming together to do it! - Bringing humanity together just as the Creator wants.

Hallelujah Praise The Lord!

Originally Posted by AvarAllahNoor

Well how i see it is you can't have a muslim bowing down and the christian banging his tamborine. You need to focus. - The Mosque is used by Muslims only, but Sikhs will pray there too. (We don't need anything to focus on or any particular direction) It's like using a shared community centre. You'd have your own ways but coming together to do it! - Bringing humanity together just as the Creator wants.

Sounds good to me, AvarAllahNoor.

Hallelujah Praise The Lord!

Amen, brother!! *shakes her tambourine ...*

peace