Christian Aid Group Hands Out Muslim Prayer Kits
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
There has been a lot of discussion and concern over how some Christian aid groups have been using the tsunami crisis as an opportunity for proselytizing. Most aids groups avoid that type of reprehensible behavior. But one aid organization has provided us with a extraordinary model for living out the Gospel that is both respectful of religious pluralism and sure to show Muslims how deep the Christian faith is. Ekklesia reports:
A Christian aid agency has distributed ‘prayer kits’ to Muslims living in camps in Aceh.
Friday was the festival of Eid in which Muslims celebrate their faith and remember the story of Ibrahim (Abraham in the Christian tradition) and his son Ishmael.
It is a day of family celebration and prayer which the international Catholic charity, Caritas, marked by carrying out a distribution of "religious kits".
The kits contain a prayer mat used by Muslims as part of the requirement of Islam to pray five times a day in a clean area free from dust and insects, a sarong which is traditionally worn by men to attend the mosque and a "mukena" or female Moslem outfit that cover their heads and bodies when they pray.
The 2500 kits have been distributed in the Meulaboh area of Aceh to people living in camps. The kits arrived in time for people to use their contents for the Eid festival.
The Caritas team leader Pat Johns said "We talked to our local staff and the community leaders in the area to ask them what they needed. Many people in Meulaboh and the surrounding area lost everything and the loss of items that are important for their Muslim faith was particularly distressing. "
As a faith based organisation, we recognise the importance of faith to many people, so as a mark of respect for the festival of Eid, Caritas decided to distribute what we are calling 'religious kits'."
Caritas has shown great integrity in these actions. Instead of treating the victims of the tsunami as a “mission field” to be conquered they are treating people the same way those of us in the West would want to be treated during a crisis: with dignity.
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