Scriptural Reasoning in Qom

Today we had our first scriptural reading session here in Qom at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute.
This was a sort of trial session. We all benefited from it and agreed that we should try to have this take place on a regular basis starting next Fall. Our topic was prayer. The participants were:
Mr. Abaie of the Jewish faith, Wally and Evie Shellenberger, our Mennonite friends who will be returning to the US in ten days, and Seyyed Hassani and Dr. Shomali represented Shi'a Islam, and I acted as a sort of moderator, although I didn't do any moderating other than to introduce everyone and indicate starting. So, we had a very small group with unequal religious representation, but it went very well and everyone asked some good questions. Mr. Abaie started by reading Psalm 145 in Hebrew and translating it into Farsi as he went along, also throwing in some explanation between the lines. When he finished, the others asked him questions. One of the interesting points he mentioned was the way the lines in Hebrew start with each of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, a sequence also used in Arabic and called "abjad". He also explained a bit about the Jewish prayer schedule. Then the Shellenbergers read Matt. 6: 7-15; Mark 1:35; Philippians 4: 6-7; and I Thessalonians 5:17. They read the text in English and commented after every verse or two on what they thought was interesting or important. This was followed by some questions about the original language of the text and their very brief remarks about the problems of manuscripts and the formation of the canon of the New Testament. Evie also spoke about what it means to pray constantly and about using prayer beads as a reminder. Next Dr. Shomali read from the Qur'an, 2:186; 8:24; 40:60; and 25:77, in Arabic with English and Farsi translation as he went (all participants understand both English and Farsi). Mr. Abaie pointed out the similarity between the reference to divine nearness in connection with prayer in both the readings from the Qur'an and the Psalms. Dr. Shomali pointed out that in the Qur'an we are told that God is near to all, while in the Psalm it was stated that God is near to those who call Him, and he reconciled them with the comment that there is a sense in which we are calling on God with our very being. There was a good spirit of inquiry and camaraderie throughout the session. When it ended we all thanked one another and God for the blessing. We are grateful for the encouragement of both Prof. Ochs, without whose efforts it would never have occurred to us to try something like this, and to Susan Harrison for all her advice, and Abbot Timothy Wright who also encouraged us. We agreed that in the future we would like to involve Iranian Christians and have sessions with three or four people from each of the three faith traditions. God willing, we will try to arrange regular sessions after Ramadan, and perhaps we can have a rotating venue, too.