时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2011年(八月)


英语课

Maryland Mosque 1 Invites Jewish Neighbors for Iftar


As Muslims around the world observed Ramadan over the past month, one mosque in the suburbs of Washington found the holy month of fasting from sunrise to sundown could provide an opportunity for some interfaith understanding. The Islamic Center of Maryland hosted members of the local Jewish community for evening prayers and an Iftar dinner, the daily meal in which Muslims break their Ramadan fast. Then, they joined their guests for a Havdalah ceremony - to mark the end of the Jewish Sabbath. VOA's Saqib UI Islam was also there.

It's sunset in the town of Gaithersburg, Maryland, just north of Washington, about time for the Muslims living in this area to break their fast. Many have gathered in the Islamic Center of Maryland waiting for the Call to prayer.

But as they stand in lines to pray, there are many new faces here to pray with them, local Jews who have gathered here to break fast and pray with the Muslims.

"Every year, at Ramadan, our mosque opens their doors for Iftar," said Haytham Younis, the mosque's imam. "We invite guests, and we put a signboard out front inviting 2 anyone who just wants to come in off the street."

On this day the Jews have been invited through an organization called the "Judaism Islamic Dialogue Society." Imam Younis and Rabbi Dan Spiro are members.

SPIRO: "It's just a wonderful way of exploring what it means to be a child of Abraham. And we are, after all, children of Abraham."

YOUNIS: "God, we believe, gave the law to Mohammed, just as he did to Moses. And it was a very similar law, for a nation of believers, so that they establish God's law on earth. So we have a lot in common."

Following the prayers, the Muslims joined the Jews for a Havdalah Service, a ritual which ends the Jewish Sabbath, of Shabbat.

"Shabbat isn't lasting 3 a whole month, but it happens a day every single week," noted 4 Hanna Spiro. "So it's this kind of regular, but spiritual, sacred holy time, and Havdala and the break-fast, the end of the fast is kind of marking that was our sacred, holy time.

In the conversation which followed, members of both communities talked about their experience with each other's faiths.

Andra Sufi says she learned to recite part of the Quran to take part in the Muslim Prayers, and has incorporated some of the teachings of Islam into her life.

"So I think that the coming together and sharing allows us the richness of what's going on in other faith traditions," said Sufi.

In many Muslim countries, Imam Younis says people of other faiths are not allowed to enter a mosque. But he says this concept does not reflect the true teachings of Islam.

"I mean, the prophet sala Allah alaih va salam (God be pleased with him) when a group of Christians 5 came from Najiran, and it was time for them to pray, he invited them to make their prayer in the masjid of the prophet sala Allah alaih va salam (God be pleased with him) , and of course Allah subhann watala (God Almighty) throughout the Quran, you know (Arabic phrase) 'call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and the most beautiful of manners.' And so how is it that you can call people to Islam if you shut them out of your lives and you have nothing to do with them whatsoever 6?" asked Younis.

Imam Younis and Rabbi Spiro both believe Jews and Muslims have much in common. Both faiths, they say, are profoundly monotheistic and share many of the same core principles - including honesty, justice, mercy, generosity 7, respect for the sanctity of life, and commitment to scholarship.



1 mosque
n.清真寺
  • The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
  • Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前,清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。
2 inviting
adj.诱人的,引人注目的
  • An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
  • The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人,使人感到亲切温馨。
3 lasting
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持
  • The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
  • We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。
4 noted
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
5 Christians
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )
  • Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
  • His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。
6 whatsoever
adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么
  • There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
  • All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样,你就怎样对人。
7 generosity
n.大度,慷慨,慷慨的行为
  • We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
  • We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。
标签: VOA慢速英语
学英语单词
additional allowance
advice columnists
alignment coordination
Anthopteropsis
antimicrotubular
atno
azimuth measurement
backsolve
bacterium animalized
bilge pump accessories
black shade
boat line
brassage
bratchet
bronze varnish
casual offender
chondrocurine
cleaning waste
climate history
comb-growth butter
combined steam-gas turbine propulsion plant
corrugated fiue
cyberwizards
decorative art
dicyanobutylene
direct-attached storage
driving bolt
dustpan dredger
employee-owned business
Eritrichium pseudolatifolium
eurosterlings
financial futures contract
Fremy's salt
genus albatrelluss
genus Lophophora
get a halfnelson on
giantranco
helplines
hinokis
hometowned
hood ventilator
industrial consumption
infrared interferometry
Iranian languages
latex mask
malignation
mathematical logic
measurement tolerance
metapyretic
minette ore
miniaturized component
misdetermines
mood stabilizer
Moslemic
mulberry cells
Navarra, Prov.de
navigation lamps
news cameraman
organ tablature
Pedicularis honanensis
perfricating
phots
plant drainage
plunketts
polygram
production of the means of production
provocator
pull down menu
pupillid
quadragesimo-octavos
quiroz
radio monitoring equipment
rambuze
recoyling
retired bond
retrigging
reverse blocking inserval
Richtex
river-runner
Salvador Mazza
sandalwood
sanitary facility
semicolon count
senna alatas
sense of beauty
snowing under
source code compatible
stagnating research programme
stanislavski institute
stigmatic lens
suction side sleeve
sulphur cake
synthetic kink-band
the first family
theasaurus
therizinosaurians
Toivakka
traffic boat
triple-bypass
Urethrolithotomy
water heater room
ystalled