Can’t resist posting this, our first blog, again this year!
Father Christmas
float used at the procession for the lantern festival on the eve of Id-al-Fitr (the end of Ramadan), taken by Humphrey Fisher in Freetown, Sierra Leone, January 12th, 1967. Freetown is on the Atlantic coast of Africa, and Humphrey spent Christmas 2013 with us on the Atlantic coast in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
Reflecting on his life spanning Islam and Christianity, we decided to start this blog together.
Religious tolerance
has been a hallmark of Humphrey’s view of life. He has engaged with so many different Christian denominations in his life (spirituality) and in his research (Africa). While his academic career developed his focus on Islam south of the Sahara, his personal life drew him to become a Quaker and later to be ordained in the Church in Wales. And one of his earliest articles was on religious toleration among Muslim and other religious groups in West Africa, published in Patterns of Prejudice, a journal of the Institute of Jewish Affairs.
At this time of the birth of Jesus, so important in Islam and Christianity, we wish you
Joy &
Peace
at this time; may we nourish the seeds of
Hope
with love together throughout the coming year.
(posted by Thomas and Julie)