NYC: Daughters of Abraham in Dialogue

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Daughters of Abraham in Dialogue

By Sabeeha Rehman & Betty Rauch

TTN (Now Women's Connection) has spawned many a project and programs. May we introduce you to the Daughters of Abraham in Dialogue. Whereas this is not a TTN program per se, it owes its inception – and many of its members – to TTN.

We are a group of 20+ women – Jews, Christians, and Muslims. We meet once a month and share our experiences from the perspective of our faith. At our first meeting, we discussed the role and rights of women in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We talk about our beliefs, rituals, holidays, stories in our scriptures. . . you get the picture. We began by meeting in our homes with pot-luck snacks and switched to Zoom during the pandemic. Now we are alternating each month between in-person and Zoom. We have been gathering every month since January 2017. That’s a lot of meetings!

As the two of us were preparing to write this piece, we backtracked, tracing how and when the program began.

And, it began with TTN (Now Women's Connection) member Anne Brennan.

At the behest of Anne’s friend, Judy Langer also at that time a TTN (Now Women's Connection) member - who had hosted Sabeeha and her husband Khalid at a talk on Islam at the Center for Living and Learning (CLL) - Anne accompanied Judy to Sabeeha’s book launch at The Corner Bookstore in July 2016. Anne then approached TTN to host a book talk on a Third Thursday of Sabeeha’s memoir "Threading My Prayer Rug." That happened in October 2016. Sabeeha and her husband Khalid walked home with Anne and Sandy Merrill, chatting, exchanging notes, and bonding.

A month later, Donald Trump was elected President, and Muslims and Jews were confronted by a rise in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Some of the TTN members recalled Sabeeha mentioning in her book talk that she was engaged in interfaith dialogue. Anne and Sandy reached out to her. Would she be interested in participating in a one-time session on interfaith dialogue with TTN (Now Women's Connection)?

Note the keyword here: ‘one time.’

The idea was that Sabeeha would bring a group of Muslim women to the gathering and we would hold a structured interfaith dialogue. Sandy held a planning meeting at her apartment with Sabeeha, Laila Al-Askari, Emaan Moosani, Anne, Sandy, and Karen Merson as facilitator.

On January 26, 2017 we convened in Linda Sicher’s beautiful home. Karen opened the meeting and the discussion took off. Fifteen minutes into the discussion, when we were supposed to move into breakout groups, Karen slipped Sabeeha a note: “This is going very well. No need to go into breakout rooms. Let it flow.”

And it flowed. Beautifully! 16 women of three faiths: curious, animated, eager, warm, engaging. We went on and on together until someone made a pronouncement -- something along these lines: “I know this was supposed to be a one-time session. But once is not enough. I suggest we meet regularly.” There was the happy sound of unanimous agreement, and within minutes our new group was given a name. “Daughters of Abraham,” someone suggested.

“That group already exists,” said Kausar Zaman. “How about Daughters of Abraham in Dialogue. Let’s not abbreviate it DoA, as in dead on arrival!” So it was said; so it was done.

Betty offered to host the first official meeting of the ‘Daughters’ and from thereon, it took off. Emaan created a Facebook page for the Daughters of Abraham in Dialogue. Check it out; you’ll see a photo of our formation team at Linda Sicher’s.

Along the way, we started bonding. Right away we all realized how little we knew about the others’ faiths. When does Ramadan start? Do you fast during Lent? When is Hannukah this year? But quickly our conversations – fueled by trust – became deeper, more meaningful and more intimate.

Now we know one another’s family, even friends; we share the successes and the complications of our lives. At one session, Tara Newfield led us in a group prayer for Sabeeha’s husband’s recovery from cancer. Some of us meet up one-on-one for coffee or a movie, we exchange books, and we are now one another’s go-to. Two of our Muslim members have joined TTN (Now Women's Connection). We are all daughters of Abraham; we are sisters; we are friends; we are buddies, and we are soulmates.