Club Vice President Mike Turner greets Jaweed Wali, with Club members Ian Scott (R) and Billy Platt (L)

Coleraine Probus are introduced to Islam

This meeting of Coleraine Probus Club featured an enlightening talk by Mr Jaweed Wali, who was “Introducing Islam” to the club members. Mr. Wali was well known to some members, as he has loyally served the Coleraine community as a consultant in the Causeway Hospital for a number of years before his recent retirement.

Jaweeds' talk gave an informative insight into Islam, as well as illustrating the many shared beliefs it has with Christianity. For Jaweed, Islam is a complete way of life which instils the values of Islam into daily life - the 'Pillars' of faith which include 'prayer'; 'purity'; 'charity' and 'pilgrimage' *see below.

Some of the 2 million pilgrims in Mecca this year

Allah is the term used for God, who can be described as The Gracious, The Merciful, The Creator, All Wise and other such descriptions. The sources of Islam are The Qur’am (The Word of God) and the Hadith (The sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad).

The Kaaba at Mecca's Al Haram Mosque

Both Christianity and Islam have origins that can be traced back to Abraham and his sons Ishmael and Isaac, with Ishmael being the first Prophet, and for Islam, Mohammad being the last. Mr. Wali gave an honest and detailed account of how Islam defines the life of a Muslim and how some aspects can be misinterpreted. This is especially true when historical or cultural elements, for instance in dress, are mistakenly attributed to the belief in Islam.

Members were certainly given much food for thought and greatly appreciated this chance to be introduced to a religion that was both different and yet similar to their own.

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The word 'Allah' in Arabic script

Some 'facts and figures':

Christianity is the worlds largest religion, with about 2 billion followers.
Islam is the second largest, with about 1.6 billion followers.
However, a report on a recent American religious study has noted: "Islam is growing more rapidly than any other religion in the world, according to a new report by the Pew Research Centre, that says the religion will nearly equal Christianity by 2050 before eclipsing it around 2070, if current trends continue".

Photo Note:
The photo at the top of this report has been sent in by Speakers Committee chair, John McKegney. John has also provided a few more informal shots and these can be seen on our 'Gallery' page ('Click' here).