IOICA Department

Children of Abraham: Jews and Muslims in Conversation is an interfaith dialogue program jointly organized and facilitated by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ).  In 2007, ISNA and the URJ partnered to promote a nationwide series of local interfaith dialogues focusing on Muslim and Jewish communities, to promote mutual respect, understanding, and communication and to strengthen their capacity to advance peace and social justice on a global scale.  That year, the president of each organization gave a keynote address at the other’s convention, announcing their commitment to enhancing Jewish-Muslim relations and garnering support for the project in both communities.  

Together, the organizations created a methodology and handbook expressly for this exchange, providing a roadmap for the groups to engage with one another and explore the commonalities in their spirituality and practice.  The guide is intended to be a starting point for those who have minimal, if any, experience with interfaith dialogue, and its 11 chapters discuss issues such as zakat and tzeadakah, the Qu’ran and the Torah, and avodah and salat, highlighting important aspects of both religions.

Despite concerted efforts by Muslim and Jewish communities to maintain a relationship of mutual respect, their actions are too often overshadowed by images that appear on nightly television news, such as the conflict in Israel/Palestine or al-Qaeda’s terrorist plots.  As a result, many in both communities fall victim to ignorance about the other, allowing the actions of extremists in each to create a false narrative about the religion and its adherents as a whole.  In reality, the two religions share abundant spiritual, practical, and historical similarities, and ISNA and the URJ seek to highlight this through their field-based series of interfaith dialogue.

The purpose of the dialogue, Children of Abraham: Jews and Muslims in Conversation, is to build bridges between communities by establishing a human connection that supersedes the overtones of religious labeling.  The dialogue occurs on a local level, through a widespread series of sessions between paired synagogues and Islamic centers/communities.  Participants use the Children of Abraham Handbook for Muslim-Jewish Dialogue, a curriculum developed jointly by ISNA and the URJ, which initiates their first steps toward restoring trust and confidence and promotes mutual respect and understanding through constructive communication.

Thus far, ISNA and the URJ have identified and paired 15 mosques and 15 synagogues for grassroots Muslim-Jewish dialogue, facilitated the implementation of the programs, and trained the leaders of the program on how best to conduct dialogue.  Feedback from the leaders of the Islamic centers and synagogues was very positive, and each expressed interest in continuing dialogue efforts.  One pair in New York City built upon their interfaith dialogue by organizing a joint “Mitzvah Day,” where they conducted a service project at a local soup kitchen.  The effort was well reported in local as well as international press, including positive coverage by both Muslim and Jewish perspectives.

To download an electronic version of the complete Children of Abraham study guide, click here.

To find out how you can help continue this important project, please contact Maggie Siddiqi at (202)544-5656 or maggie@isna.net.