The holy month of Ramadan began in early June this year, and to celebrate the ending of the fasting month and their connected roots, Jews and Muslims gathered to break fast together. From the Journal Sentinel:
The story of Sarah and her maid, Hagar, is a short one by the Torah’s standards. Sarah can’t conceive, so she tasks Hagar with creating a child for her husband, Abraham. When the two welcome Ishmael to the world, she sends the maid and her son away.
In the Torah, the story ends there. But in the Qur’an, it continues as the story of Hagar and Ishmael, who survived in the dry land of Mecca when Allah sent the Angel Jibril to create a spring.
The tale of Ishmael is just one of the common threads that weave through the ancient texts of Judaism and Islam.
To celebrate their intertwined roots, members of the Jewish and Muslim communities gathered at a Milwaukee-area school of Islamic Sufism last week for an iftar — the nightly breaking of the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan — and lessons on fasting, faith and building bridges.
For more, visit Journal Sentinel.
