Muslim prayers conducted in a Church

The Syed Shah Mustafa Jame Masjid mosque was too small to fit everyone in. Church minister Rev Isaac  Poobalan Saw worshipers praying outside so he handed over part of St John's Episcopal Church in Aberdeen, Scotland to the Muslims to observe their daily prayers. Bishop says: 'It would be good to think we can change the world' 

The clergy man said: 'Praying is never wrong. My job is to encourage people to pray. The mosque was so full at times, there would be people outside in the wind and rain praying. I knew I couldn't just let this happen - because I would be abandoning what the Bible teaches us about how we should treat our neighbors. When I spoke to people at the church about the situation, someone actually said to me this was not our problem, but I had seen it with my own eyes, so it was a problem. Rev Poobalan said: 'They were out there praying and the snow came on for the first time in winter, it was really hard to watch. 'When they were doing the prayer they had their hands and feet exposed and they were sitting on on the pavement, which is very rough. You could even see them breathing because it was so cold and I think when I saw that, the visual impact was such that I just couldn't walk past. It felt wrong, mainly because the church is next door, it's a big building and it remains empty on a Friday lunchtime which is when they need the place most as that's when they are at their busiest. We had something we could offer and they were just standing out in the cold and I said to my congregation "we need to do something".Rev Poobalan said he wanted the move to help build bridges between Christians and Muslims after some initial resistance from his congregation about the move.

Rev Poobalan, 50, said being surrounded by Islam while growing up in India helped break down the divide for worshippers of two religions praying together in Aberdeen.

Sheikh Ahmed Megharbi of the Syed Shah Mustafa Jame Masjid mosque said: 'What happens here is special and there should be no problem repeating this across the country.

'The relationship is friendly and respectful.'

Can this happen in Naija?

---curled from www.dailymail.co.uk