Manchester Jewish-Muslim forum celebrates 10th anniversary

18 June 2015, 12:36 pm
From Left to right: Mohammed Amin, Co-Chair of the Forum, Jonny Wineberg, Master of Ceremonies and past Co-Chair of the Forum. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, The Lady Mayoress Mrs Murphy, The Lord Mayor of Manchester Cllr Paul Murphy OBE, Heather Fletcher, Co-Chair of the Forum, Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra.
From Left to right: Mohammed Amin, Co-Chair of the Forum, Jonny Wineberg, Master of Ceremonies and past Co-Chair of the Forum. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, The Lady Mayoress Mrs Murphy, The Lord Mayor of Manchester Cllr Paul Murphy OBE, Heather Fletcher, Co-Chair of the Forum, Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra.

Jewish and Muslim leaders in Manchester have celebrated the tenth anniversary of a crucial interfaith forum which has seen members holidaying together and making an emotional pilgrimage to Auschwitz.

Organisers behind Greater Manchester’s Muslim Jewish Forum, which now counts 500 members, said the group’s success was partly because the two communities had “numerous common interests”.

Manchester has the UK’s second biggest Jewish community and one of the country’s biggest Muslim populations.

Co-chair Mohammed Amin said: “We’ve gone from being strangers to becoming friends. We’ve made it normal for Muslims and Jews to have contact with each other.”

Heather Fletcher, the Forum’s secretary, said: “People say ‘what do we want to mix with Jews for.’ We’ve been saying, they are not that different, come along and find out.”

 

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