Synagogue/Mosque Twin Services

The Los Angeles Times article is written by an Orthodox Jew (Duke Helfand) and someone I presume is a Muslim (Raja Abdulrahim):

Rabbinical student Jessica Koss paused in front of the mosque and carefully wrapped a turquoise and green scarf around her head so that all her hair was covered.

She tied the loose ends into a bun at the back of her neck before entering the Masjid Omar Ibn Al Khattab for the Friday prayer service.

With her were two other student members of the Hillel Jewish Center taking part in daylong "getting to know the other" events between Muslim and Jewish student groups at USC. The events on Friday, which began at the mosque and ended hours later for Shabbat dinner at Hillel, were part of a national "twinning campaign" to establish synagogue-mosque partnerships to combat Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

"I think it’s really a good opportunity to talk openly with each other," said Koss, who is in her second year at the American Jewish University. "As someone who’s going to be a rabbi, I look at it as an opportunity to understand a background that I don’t know anything about."

Inside the mosque, the three students were greeted by Hebah Farrag, an assistant director at USC’s Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement, who gave the two other women flower-print scarves before they entered the prayer room. They walked past men and women sitting on the bright blue-and-beige carpet to an area almost empty except for one other person, with more than 30 folded chairs set out for guests. At the front of the room, Ahmed Gablawi delivered a sermon urging Muslims to focus on similarities, rather than differences, with other faiths.

"Argue not with the people of the book except with that which is best," Gablawi said, meaning discussions with Christians and Jews should be civil.

Koss took notes during the sermon. Beside her, Nina Gordon-Kirsch, a USC environmental studies sophomore, wrote down questions as the Muslim congregation prayed in Arabic — bending, prostrating and rising at the direction of the imam. She wondered what each movement meant and what was being said.