The Belfast Islamic Mosque is located in Wellington Park, South Belfast, within the boundaries of St Thomas' Church of Ireland parish. On 27 April 2004, a meeting of the Belfast Islamic Council and St Thomas' Select Vestry took place in St Thomas' Parish Hall on the Lisburn Road. The purpose was to enable people to meet for the first time and to initiate Christian-Muslim dialogue.
Dr Jamal Iweda, the President of the Belfast Islamic Council, gave a brief presentation on Islam. He highlighted the common roots of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Old Testament. He pointed out that the Prophet Mohammed - the founder of Islam in the early 7th Century - was born into circumstances of poverty and poor education, but was raised up by Allah as his great Prophet. Islam includes Abraham, Moses and Jesus among its other prophets. In Islamic doctrine, there will be a Day of Resurrection when every person will be raised up from death. That will be followed by judgement to either hellfire or paradise.
"The Muslim must practise his beliefs," Dr Iweda said. This involves profession of faith, prayer five times a day, giving 2.5% of income to the poor, fasting, and pilgrimage to Mecca. A small number of
Muslims have lived here for 300 years, but in the 20th Century the numbers rose
to about 4000. The Mosque in Wellington Park was opened in 1977.
Canon Walter Lewis, Rector of St Thomas's, gave a brief illustrated overview of the Church of Ireland. He pointed out that Anglicanism, in common with the main Christian traditions, is 'Trinitarian' in doctrine - that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the 5th Century, Patrick, a missionary Bishop from the British Roman Church, brought Christianity to Ireland. His efforts were blessed with a remarkable degree of success, resulting in the parochial Church organisation which we have today.
Canon Lewis gave an overview of the continuity in the life of the Church through the monastic movement, the Viking and Norman settlements, and the 16th century Reformation to the present day. Referring to Richard Hooker - the 16th century father of Anglicanism - he spoke about 'The Three Pillars of Anglicanism - Scripture, Tradition and Reason'. This was referred to in later discussion as being very similar to the pillars of Islam. Canon Lewis also spoke about the range of worship and ministry in the Church of Ireland.
In the lively discussion which followed, topics included the ordination of women in the Church, women's dress in Islam, the jihad and suicide bombers, and the role of the Churches here in overcoming hatred between Catholics and Protestants.
At the end of the meeting, gifts were exchanged. Canon Lewis presented a copy of the new Book of Common Prayer to the Imam
Mohammed and received a copy of the Koran from Dr Iweda.
Throughout, there was a warm atmosphere of friendship and fellowship, and a unanimous decision that there should be another meeting in October. It was a very encouraging start to Christian-Muslim dialogue in South Belfast.
Afterwards Canon Lewis said,
"The meeting was very constructive and worthwhile. It has taken some time to arrange, but I think everyone present contributed to the warm atmosphere of openness, and an enthusiasm to learn about each other and become friends. It was felt that this should be the first of many meetings in the future."
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