Muslim/Christian exchanges.

In the small south-west German town of Ettlingen, Christians and Muslims have been meeting regularly for some years to get to know and support each other. Many of the town's Muslim community are now second or third generation--their families came from Turkey as guest-workers in the 1950s.

In one of our meetings, a Muslim woman suggested that if we were to be real friends, we should learn more about each others' religions. We decided to look at three questions: What is particularly important to me in my faith? What can't I understand, or what makes me afraid, in your faith? What can we do together as Christians and Muslims in and for our town?

The Muslims showed impressive slides about the way they practise their religion. The Christians had difficulty finding a similar series of slides to explain their faith to non-Christians. The Muslims admitted how hurt they were when German colleagues made fun of their faith. We discovered common problems --for instance, in passing our faith on to the next generation.

We also succeeded in talking about very personal questions. For example, a Christian woman said that for her the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ was particularly important. She illustrated this with an example from her marriage. The Muslims reacted positively to this and said that sin, guilt and forgiveness also played an important part in their religion. They were impressed with the way she linked her faith to everyday questions. A conversation started which led to deep mutual understanding.

One of the Muslim women runs a little snack stall in the market hall. I used to visit her once a week for a snack and a chat. One day she said she was very worried about her daughter, who wanted to move in with a young German man. The mother told me that this was unacceptable to her religion and would damage her reputation in the town, where she was well known. She was becoming increasingly estranged from her daughter.

We pondered the situation together over the weeks. Centuries-old religious and cultural concepts were clashing with the West European individualistic ideal of freedom. I told her that in my experience God had a plan for our human lives, and that one could seek it in a time of quiet reflection.

In between our conversations I studied the Qur'an and tried to find suras which suited our problem. I also sought the advice of Muslim friends. Later she told in a meeting how her exchanges with me--a Christian pastor--had helped her to find a new relationship with her daughter. She had been able to help her daughter and her boyfriend find a way between their personal love and inclination and religious duty.