Bismillah: Christian Muslim Ramadan Reflections

Dave Andrews, Mosaic Press, 2012

It is not surprising that Dave Andrew’s love for Jesus moves him to observe Ramadan with his Muslim friends. This is no impulsive career change. Dave has always been motivated by his passion for living lovingly with an eye for social justice for the poor and marginalised. And poverty and marginalisation can be blind to religion.

For me, this little book takes me with him on steps beyond words – talking about our relations with other faiths, or further on, conversing with those of other faiths (interfaith dialogue) – to compassionate embrace of the other; and all the while, intelligently reflecting dialogically on our Christian tradition.

So, for me, this little book is important not for its own sake, as yet another book of meditations, but for what it signifies. It’s a kind of demonstration lesson.

Dave’s little book puts to bed a myth that has been circulating among Christians for years. Namely, the fear that an embrace of the other is disloyal to Jesus – an indiscretion of unbelief. In Muslim terms, haram – forbidden because it is unclean and defiles.

Dave’s reflections write in big words for me, how much our faith and love is strengthened and enlarged as we befriend and enter into the lives of those of other faiths. Embrace of the other may be a challenge. But one comes away with spiritual riches, and, I believe, a mind closer to the mind of God and a heart enlarged in the love of God.

http://www.assembly.uca.org.au/rof/resources/book-reviews/399-book-review-bismallah