This year’s interfaith visitor was Shenaz Bunglawala, vice chair of the Europe and International Affairs Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain. Shenaz told BYM that this was her first time at a Quaker Meeting. A political scientist who writes and lectures on religion and politics in the UK and in Turkey – the subject of her PhD study at the London School of Economics – she made time to attend both BYM sessions on ‘Engaging with the political process.’
She was struck by the common emphasis in both Quakerism and Islam on putting faith into action. ‘Islam isn’t just about daily prayer and ritual action, it’s also about the human dimension, how we exemplify the faith’. She was particularly impressed by the ministry of a Friend whose young daughters, during the recent election, had assessed the calibre of politicians by measuring their promises against the Quaker testimonies. ‘Muslims do that too: try to assess how well they will serve us, those who seek to represent us, by how closely they pursue the truth’.