IT’S true to say that while most Muslims know all about Christmas and Easter and their religious significance, many Christians have very little idea of what Eid or Ramadan mean to followers of Islam.
That’s partly because we don’t see Muslim religious services on British TV and the vast majority of non-Muslims just have no experience of the rituals and celebrations involved in the religion.
Whereas even those who go nowhere near a church on a regular basis will be quite familiar with the format of services simply through going to school or watching Songs of Praise.
The only Islamic religious rituals many will have witnessed are on news footage from the annual Haj pilgrimage gatherings at holy centres in Saudi Arabia which are difficult to comprehend because of the vast numbers of people involved.
With this backcloth, anything that removes some of the mystery (which can lead to apprehension) is to be welcomed.
Hopefully, plans to hold a two-day Muslim prayer festival in Blackburn’s Corporation Park to mark Eid, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, is to be welcomed.
If approved, the festival could break down some of the barriers which ignorance helps to breed.
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