Muslim Call to Prayer on TV
Muslims are now observing the month-long fast of Ramadan and will continue until about August 7th, depending on the sighting of the new moon. For the first time, the publicly-owned, commercially-funded British TV station Channel 4 chose to broadcast the adhan, or Muslim call to prayer, throughout the 30 days of Ramadan. I wondered how that was going to be handled since it would mean suddenly interrupting scheduled TV shows in progress 5 times every day, no doubt upsetting some viewers. As it turns out, the only interruption to normal TV broadcasting happened on the first day of Ramadan, July 10th. For the remaining 29 days of the month of fasting, only the first call to prayer (before 4 am) is being broadcast over the airwaves. You can read more here and see Channel 4’s response to criticism here.
Childrens Clubs Break for Summer
Saturday, July 20th marks the end of our first season of weekly clubs for boys and girls, and they have been an unqualified success. Boys club ran consistently between 12 and 15 each week, while girls club was usually about 24 in attendance. This is nice for the girls since among Muslim families here there are often fewer opportunities for girls outside the home. Thank you for praying for this needed outreach. We look forward to a restart sometime after the summer break.
Upcoming North American Ministry
We mentioned this in a previous update but we plan to be based in Ontario from August 23rd to October 9th 2013. All Sundays are now booked and we will have opportunity to see many of you. Please let us know if you would like to touch base when we are in the area. It would be our pleasure.
George and Karen King
