From the pulpit: Hope, light and love — our common values
Martin Bentz
We are in the season of hope. Our Jewish brothers and sisters have just completed the holy week of Hanukkah honoring the trials and resilience of their faith, lighting the Menorah each evening. Christians are only a few days away from celebrating the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, the Light of the world. During the week following Christmas, African Americans of all faiths renew their commitment to universal principles rooted in African tradition, lighting symbolic candles over seven days.
The principles of Kwanzaa are not antithetical to Muslim tradition. Africans, brought to the Americas as slaves, were either Muslim or animist. A few of the Kwanzaa principles are derived from the Muslim traditions they carried with them, with some of the words in Swahili the same in Arabic. One of them is “nia,” or purpose. Muslims express their “nia” or intention before performing prayers, or fasting or giving charity. The last Kwanzaa candle honors faith, or “imani,” very familiar to Muslims in Arabic.