Latter-day Saints and Muslims Prepare Aid for Iraq

By Sonja Eddings Brown

Within the walls of a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse in southern California in May, the world changed just a bit due to a special partnership and an act of service for people suffering from the conflict in Iraq.

The event was an unprecedented humanitarian aid effort between Muslims and Latter-day Saints, organized and held in Pasadena, California. The mission was to prepare some 10,000 family hygiene kits for people in need in Iraq. The project was part of a large shipment of emergency supplies donated by LDS Humanitarian Services.

“We are told by relief workers in Iraq that these family hygiene kits will be most welcome,” said Elder Tad R. Callister, an Area Authority Seventy. The kits contain such items as hand soap, towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and combs.

Nour International Aid and Mercy Corps International transported the goods by ship, which traveled from Los Angeles to Turkey and then on to Iraq.

The cultural hall in the Pasadena California Stake Center lived up to its name at this multicultural gathering. Members of local mosques arrived dressed in traditional attire. Raymond O. Lowry Jr., president of the Pasadena California Stake, welcomed the 300 Latter-day Saint and Muslim volunteers, then offered a prayer to begin the event. Dr. Yahia Abdul-Rahman, head of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, also shared a prayer on behalf of his people. It was a testimony to the importance of the day that both spiritual leaders prayed for almost identical blessings upon their people—to please God, to care for their families, and to bless their service.

The shared labor of the volunteers will be a permanent memory for everyone. Members of the Pasadena stake worked shoulder to shoulder for several hours with members of the Muslim community, assembling kits with washcloths, toothbrushes, and other hygiene necessities, while discovering how much they had in common.

“We’ve just been talking, and I found out that Hedab lives next door to one of my good friends!” said Carolyn Peterson of the Pasadena stake after meeting one of the Muslim volunteers.

Most of the Muslim volunteers, like Traore Lancind of West Africa, had never been inside a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse. “When they spoke at the mosque and said that we could help today, I wanted to come,” said Mr. Lancind. “This is much different than our mosque. We go only for prayers. You do so many things inside your church.”

A particularly memorable moment occurred when those of the Muslim faith requested to use the nearby Relief Society room for a midday prayer. In minutes, shoes came off, prayer rugs came out, and without restraint some 50 faithful Muslims expressed their thanks to God surrounded by the walls of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a very reverent moment, and it spoke volumes of how welcome the Muslims felt. Friendship and understanding between the two faiths blossomed.

Dr. Abdul-Rahman expressed his admiration for the Church: “You have so many examples to offer us to learn from—your commitment, your voluntary work, your prompt action to help those who need it and without asking for any rewards. Our friendship is not just for today.”

Working side by side, volunteers from the Church and the Muslim community in Pasadena, California, assemble family hygiene kits that were later donated to people in need in Iraq. (Photograph courtesy of Church Public Affairs.)