FAITH AWARENESS SUMMER VISITS: ISLAM INFORMATION CENTRE

Some of the group at the Islam Information Centre this evening

The Faith Awareness series of summer visits to places of worship and other faith-related sites in Leicester continues this evening at the Islam Information Centre, Highfield Street. As well being contracted to work 20 hours a week for Leicester Council of Faiths, I now do a day and a half a week with Faith Awareness, the inter-faith programme of Christians Aware.

I was last here less than a week ago, helping out with a group of Year 5 pupils from Sandfield Close Primary on a visit arranged in association with The Mighty Creatives. The children had cameras, digital voice recorders and all kinds of art materials, to capture their experiences and impressions visiting not only here, but also the Jain Centre, Leicester Cathedral and BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir. Back in the classroom they'll be producing material for a display entitled "Faith in Neighbours" that will be on show in Curve during An Indian Summer later this month.

I'm glad to say that we have the biggest turnout so far for these Monday evening visits, with an even dozen of us at the start. Had any more arrived, the group would have had to be renamed "Christians Galore"!

Each of the three floors in the Centre has themed rooms. The ground floor and reception area is "Discover Islam". On the first floor are two rooms, "Status of Women" and "Islamic World of Science". In the last of these, we watch a short DVD feature, Library of Secrets, starring Sir Ben Kingsley, which reveals some of the contributions that Islam has made to some of the most essential aspects of the modern world. We're introduced to illustrious figures from the Golden Age of Muslim civilization (roughly coinciding with what is still called the Dark Ages in European history) who pushed back the frontiers of theory and practice in matters such as

• astronomy (Meriam al-Astrulabi, 10th century CE)
• mathematics (Al Kindi, c 801-873 CE)
• manned flight (Abbas Ibn Firnas, 810-887 CE)
• mechanics (Al-Jazari, 1136-1206 CE)
• optics (Ibn al-Haytham, AKA Alhazen, 965-1040 CE)
• surgery (Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi 956-1013 CE).

This is very well made, à la Harry Potter: accessible, enjoyable and interesting for children and adults alike.

I remember when I first heard about characters such as these and their achievements, the glories of the Golden Age of Muslim civilization and how much that magnificent culture has bequeathed to our modern world. That was in 1979, when I was 19 years old. I was astonished at what I learned then and questioned why I hadn't known any of this before. How could I have gone through a liberal educational process, the finest that the Scottish system - long the envy of much of the rest of the world - had to offer, yet been taught nothing about this? Did my teachers even know about these things? Did those who had taught them? I felt like I uncovered these hidden truths, which are now gaining ground as common knowledge, through the writings of William Sears and George Townshend, little known apologists for what was a little known faith in my late teenage years. Sometimes it felt like being a detective or lifting the lid on a conspiracy theory as I found out more and more. It's good that institutions such as the Islam Information Centre exist today to redress the balance and close some of these yawning gaps in our knowledge.

Kamran Qayyuam & Abu Bakar

Kamran Qayyum and Abu Bakar are our guides through the rooms. They're supported by Daud Sameja (Joint Coordinator of the Christian-Muslim Dialogue Group), who gives a short introductory talk and fields the Q&A at the end. In the photo above, Kamran and Abu are seen with a display of copies of the Qur’án in different languages. To the left of the picture are translations of the Qur’án in Albanian, Chinese, French and German; to the right, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil and Urdu translations. This in "The Noble Qur’án" room, one of the two themed rooms on the top floor. The other is dedicated to a display on "The Prophets of God (Peace Be Upon Them)".

After we've toured the themed rooms, we return to the reception area, where some food is laid on for us. We end with a relaxed Q&A and I present Kamran with a copy of Meeting Muslims, the latest in a series of books on encounters with people of different faiths published by Christians Aware. I checked beforehand that they didn't already have a copy of this. They didn't, surprisingly, since it was done with the help of several friends in Leicester (including Daud) and is published by an inter-faith organization based a mere stone's throw away. I'm glad to be able to rectify that omission this evening.

I get the remaining members of the group to pose for a photo at the front of the building. As we're leaving, I encourage our Muslim friends to join us on the visit to Neve Shalom - Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation's synagogue - next Monday evening. I hope that some of them will be able to take us up on the offer.

This is the fourth of six Faith Awareness visits planned for Monday evenings in May and June, the others being

• Jain Centre, Oxford Street (13 May)
• All Saints Church, Kerrysdale Avenue (20 May)
• BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Gipsy Lane (3 June)
• Neve Shalom Progressive Synagogue, Avenue Road (17 June)
• Guru Amar Das Gurdwara, Clarendon Park Road (24 June)

I may not be ale to attend every visit personally, but I hope to arrange for a blog post on each of them. Watch this space!

SANDFIELD CLOSE PRIMARY PUPILS VISIT ISLAM INFORMATION CENTRE

This afternoon I'm at the Islam Information Centre, Highfield Street, helping out with a visit of Year 5 pupils from Sandfield Close Primary.

This is the last of four visits in two days to local places of worship, arranged in association with The Mighty Creatives (a charity based in Leicester's LCB Depot, working across the East Midlands to champion young people's creativity and innovation).

The group is kitted out with cameras of different kinds (for stills and video), digital voice recorders and good old fashioned paper, pens, pencils and crayons. Artwork that the children produce as an outcome of their visits will be on display under the title, "Faith in Neighbours" in the Mezzanine at Curve as part of An Indian Summer later this month.

Each of the three floors in the Centre has themed rooms. The ground floor and reception area is "Discover Islam". On the first floor are two rooms, "Status of Women" and "Islamic World of Science". In Science room, we watch a short multi-award winning DVD feature, Library of Secrets, starring Sir Ben Kingsley, which reveals some of the contributions that Islam has made to essential aspects of our modern world. This is very well made, à la Harry Potter: accessible, enjoyable and interesting for children and adults alike.

Our guides today are Kamran Qayyum and Abu Bakar. In the photo below, they're standing with a display of copies of the Qur’án in different languages. To the left of the picture are translations of the Qur’án in Albanian, Chinese, French and German; to the right, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil and Urdu translations. I took this photo last week, when visiting with the chldren from Sandfield Close Primary, but it's such a good one that I make no apology for using it again. This is taken in "The Noble Qur’án" room, one of the two themed rooms on the top floor. The other is dedicated to a display on "The Prophets of God (Peace Be Upon Them)".

Kamran Qayyuam & Abu Bakar

I've met Abu and Kamran separately before but this is the first time I've seen them work together. I have to say that they make an effective double act. They have a great rapport with the children and generate a good deal of fun and laughter during their presentation. The kids clearly enjoy their short visit here and it's hard to get them back on the coach when it's time to leave.

This morning we were at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Gipsy Lane. Yesterday morning we were at the Jain Centre, Oxford Street; yesterday afternoon, Leicester Cathedral. It's been great working with these ten children, whose energy, engagement and enthusiasm has remained at the same high level from first to last. It's also been a pleasure to spend time with Asha Sodha and Raksha Patel, who have accompanied the children. Raksha is a PTA member and volunteer on school activities. Asha is a Teaching Assistant and Secretary of the PTA. She also works as part of Nupur Arts Dance Academy, which took part in the recent Spark Festival and will be involved in An Indian Summer at the end of the month. I've also been glad of the chance to work alongside "G" too. It's hard to pull of that look of wearing a bunnet indoors, but he manages it with style.

I'll be coming back to the Islam Information Centre on Monday evening (10 June) with a group of adult visitors for one of Christians Aware's Faith Awareness summer visits. I'm looking forward to that already!

SANDFIELD CLOSE PRIMARY PUPILS VISIT SWAMINARAYAN MANDIR

This morning I'm at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Gipsy Lane, helping out with a visit of Year 5 pupils from Sandfield Close Primary. I arrive here hotfoot from BBC Radio Leicester, where I was recording a Thought for the Day earlier this morning (a Bahá'í comment on the upcoming G8 Summit in Northern Ireland).

This is the third of four visits in two days to local places of worship, arranged in association with The Mighty Creatives (a charity based in Leicester's LCB Depot, working across the East Midlands to champion young people's creativity and innovation).

The group is kitted out with cameras of different kinds (for stills and video), digital voice recorders and good old fashioned paper, pens, pencils and crayons. Artwork that the children produce as an outcome of their visits will be on display under the title, "Faith in Neighbours" in the Mezzanine at Curve as part of An Indian Summer later this month.

Our host today, Dipak Kalyan, wastes no time in getting us started on the guided tour. Photography and video recording is not permitted anywhere inside the mandir, so the children get the chance to do more drawing and sketching here than at the other venues.

One interesting topic that comes to the surface this morning is the symbolism of colours. Orange robes on statues of spiritual enlightened figures signify the fire that burns away worldly attachment, for example. We relate this to the bright red jumpers of the children's school uniform. Why is their top red, when other schools have other colours? How does it make Sandfield Close stand out? Does it make them different from other schools which have other colours? Does it make them better than other schools to be red?

A little correspondence that strikes a chord is when Dipak mentions about there being 108 beads on the rosary that devotees use, representing 108 names of God. There's a show on Cartoon Network called Hero 108 that might be said to draw on some themes of spirituality, oneness and the conflict between humankind and nature, which are not out of place with the kind of things we learn in the mandir today.

One of the children asks why we should remove our shoes in the mandir. Dipak starts with the standard answer, about not bringing (literal and metaphorical) dirt from the outside world into a sacred place. then he says that it's also because shoes are normally made of leather, which comes from a dead animal and we shouldn't bring that before the deities. Now, goodness knows how many times I've come into a place of worship and removed my shoes without thinking beyond the first of these reasons, the most obvious (most superficial?) one. It comes as a bit of a shock to realise that I usually wear a leather jacket and have never thought that I should remove it. Nor has anyone ever asked me to remove it in a place of worship either, I should point out. It's an uncomfortable moment of self realisation and as I speak about this, sharing my thoughts and feelings with the group, Bipin leans over and tugs at the shoulder strap of my leather messenger bag. Now that I know, it would be hard to carry on regardless. Later, someone asks about leather belts. I've never seen anyone remove their trouser belt in a place of worship. This reason for removing your shoes (and possibly other leather or suede items) won't apply in every place of worship of course, but still - food for thought I'm sure you'll agree, faithful reader.

This afternoon the group moves on to the Islam Information Centre, Highfield Street. Yesterday morning we were at the Jain Centre, Oxford Street; yesterday afternoon, Leicester Cathedral.

Our friends at BAPS Shri Swaminarayn Mandir were able to squeeze our group in this morning due to a last minute cancellation. Thanks to Narendra and Dipak for doing that.

SANDFIELD CLOSE PRIMARY PUPILS VISIT LEICESTER CATHEDRAL

This afternoon I'm at Leicester Cathedral, helping out with a visit of Year 5 pupils from Sandfield Close Primary.

This is the second of four visits in two days to local places of worship, arranged in association with The Mighty Creatives (a charity based in Leicester's LCB Depot, working across the East Midlands to champion young people's creativity and innovation).

The group is kitted out with cameras of different kinds (for stills and video), digital voice recorders and good old fashioned paper, pens, pencils and crayons. Artwork that the children produce as an outcome of their visits will be on display under the title, "Faith in Neighbours" in the Mezzanine at Curve as part of An Indian Summer later this month.

We weren't expecting the services of a guide (so I've spent some time boning up on what I think the children need to know, including spending an hour yesterday afternoon, during which time I had useful chats with the Dean and Verger) but I'm glad to say that we do have one after all. Bev Farrand is on volunteer duty here today and she steps forward to give us her time and the benefit of her knowledge. Much appreciated, Bev!

A few of the boys venture outside with a very expensive camera, so I keep tabs on them. While I'm doing that, I notice a woman is standing nearby, gazing quizzically at me. I don't recognise her, but return her smile. She comes over and asks if I'm George Ballentyne. When I reply that I am and ask if we've met before, she says we haven't, but she recognises me from my brief appearance last week on East Midlands Today. I wonder if this is how Matt Smith feels! As I often do when taken by surprise, I make an incongruous remark: "I've trimmed my eyebrows since then", I say.

This morning we were at the Jain Centre, Oxford Street. Tomorrow morning we'll be visiting BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Gipsy Lane; in the afternoon, the Islam Information Centre, Highfield Street.

SANDFIELD CLOSE PRIMARY PUPILS VISIT JAIN CENTRE

This morning I'm at the Jain Centre, Oxford Street, helping out with a visit of Year 5 pupils from Sandfield Close Primary.

This is the first of four visits in two days to local places of worship, arranged in association with The Mighty Creatives (a charity based in Leicester's LCB Depot, working across the East Midlands to champion young people's creativity and innovation).

The group is kitted out with cameras of different kinds (for stills and video), digital voice recorders and good old fashioned paper, pens, pencils and crayons. Artwork that the children produce as an outcome of their visits will be on display under the title, "Faith in Neighbours" in the Mezzanine at Curve as part of An Indian Summer later this month.

This afternoon the group moves on to Leicester Cathedral. Tomorrow morning we'll be visiting BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Gipsy Lane; in the afternoon, the Islam Information Centre, Highfield Street.