Affinity joint Iftar with North Harbour Catholic Parish at St Kieran’s Church was an exciting and successful event. Ms Rahile Ansari played a major role in sitting up the event jointly with Ms Kate Shaw.The event attracted a strong attention from Sydney’s Northern Beaches local community with the number of people attending the Iftar at around 80 participants.
The proceedings started with a welcome address by Fr Peter Wieneke, who emphasised the importance of interfaith dialogue and the positive influence it has had on him personally as well as his community in general. This was followed by the Azan (Call to Prayer). The fast ended with traditional water and dates. Afterwards, a beautiful buffet of Afghani food was served and this proved to be a major success that opened up doors for discussion and cultural exchange between the participants. The dinner break was followed by Quranic recitation by Dr Ammar AliBeck.
Afterwards, Warringah Mayor Michael Regan delivered his speech where he highlighted that the practice of fasting is shared by different traditions and stressed the importance of respect, understanding and dialogue between different social groups on the fabric of society and the positive influence an Iftar gathering has on creating an harmonious, co-operative and multicultural modern Australian society.
Mrs. Jackie Worthington highlighted the shared background between the Abrahamic traditions through a reading from the Bible that referred to Prophet Abraham. Fr Peter Jones presented the Christian address. He talked about the significance and the meaning of breaking bread in the Christian faith and shared with the audience some of his travel experience during Ramadan and Eid in Tunisia and Algeria while on a journey following the footsteps of St. Augustine.
The Muslim address was presented by Affinity executive Dr Ammar AliBeck, where he explained how fasting has been practiced in the Islamic tradition and the significance of Ramadan on the Islamic calendar. He also stressed the importance and meaning of fasting to the Muslim community.
Affinity President, Mr Mehmet Saral, closed the evening with words of thanks to the participants and St Kieran’s Church as hosts. He stressed the important role that Affinity has been playing in building bridges across Sydney and in the NSW State. He presented both Fr Peter Wieneke and Mayor Michael Regan a gift on behalf of Affinity as a token of appreciation.
