Sharon mosque lives by 'love for all'

Amer Malik led men in prayer at a Ramadan dinner, to which the public is invited, by the Ahmadiyyah Movement in Sharon. (ARAM BOGHOSIAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

You can learn about another person's religion by discussing its theological tenets, its different take on God, and the similarities it shares with other faiths. Or you can learn about it by feasting with neighbors on spicy chicken curry, rice, chickpeas and yogurt, and ice cream.

During Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, one mosque in Sharon is practicing its longstanding preaching of interfaith harmony by holding weekend dinners that are open to the public, starting with last Saturday's curried affair. That invitation extends to other Muslims, many of whom don't consider this group authentically Islamic.

It follows the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, which was founded in 1889 when Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, from the Punjab region of India, declared himself the awaited messiah, a prophet who would reinvigorate Islam in the contemporary world. Many Muslim leaders consider the claim of prophethood a heresy. In the face of that opposition, the Ahmadis hold religious harmony as a hallmark of their efforts as exemplified by their motto, "Love for all, hatred for none."

"We do [interfaith events] throughout the year," said Dr. Amer Malik, the Pakistan-born president of the movement's Boston-area chapter.

Ramadan is both an apt and odd time for such outreach, he added. Eating is especially pleasurable after all-day fasting, and so dinner with neighbors makes for a festive gathering. But the focus of the holy month and its daytime self-denial is on inner purity and personal improvement.

"Ramadan is really a time for self-reflection," said Malik, who lives in Providence. "It's like an introspective thing, primarily." During the month, Muslims are encouraged to make special efforts of charity and kindness.

Last Saturday's dinner drew only the Ahmadis, the result, organizers said, of a delay in getting out invitations as well as forecasts of Tropical Storm Hanna's imminent arrival. Male members of the movement arrayed themselves on the floor in the green-carpeted prayer room, stripped of furniture save for a few chairs, a table for literature and prayer caps, and a television playing a tape of a movement leader interpreting various verses of the Koran. Women worshiped and ate separately, on the second floor.

After the study of the Koran concluded, Malik led 30 men in maghrib [dusk] prayers before dinner. As he chanted, rows of men alternately stood and knelt, prostrating themselves with heads to the floor. A dark-haired toddler in checkered overalls and bare feet stared wide-eyed at the men, then wandered through the forest of legs until reaching his father and wrapping tiny arms around his blue jeans.

Khalid Kark, general secretary of the Ahmadis's Boston-area chapter, who hadn't had a bite to eat since 4:15 that morning, patiently waited for the buffet line to whittle itself down. "The first day [fasting] is sometimes tough, but you get used to it," he said while reflecting on Muslim Americans' relations with their countrymen during this Ramadan, seven years after 9/11.

He recalled assaults on Muslims, and on people mistaken for Muslims, after the 9/11 attacks but said he had a more positive experience.

"I was working in Burlington when Sept. 11 happened," he said, "and the vice president of my company came to me and said, 'If there's anything I can do to help - if you want to stay at my house for a couple of days.' "

Building relations with other Muslims is tougher for the Ahmadis than with non-Muslims, he said. Local churches and synagogues have collaborated on speaking events with the mosque, according to Malik. "We've had Sikhs, we've had Buddhists, we've had Hindus, we've had Catholics, we've had Protestants." Collaboration with Muslims has been more sporadic, he said.

"Muslims already know the basics" of Islam, said Kark, "so the discussion with them is more what the differences are and how to really bridge that gap from where they are to where we are. Whereas with the other communities . . . we're educating them on Islam as well as specifically what our beliefs are."

The Boston-area Ahmadis opened their Sharon mosque in 1997 and claim about 180 members. A second chapter of the movement, based in Fitchburg, has 70 people.

Community members interested in the Sharon mosque's weekend dinners during Ramadan may contact the Ahmadis at ramadhanopenhouse@yahoo.com.

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