Throughout the Season After the Epiphany the church basks in the light of Christ revealed to us. Yet simultaneously we live in a world divided by religious difference. To our surprise, the light of God shines upon us from the other, as God is made manifest through a diversity of mediums. 

This sermon series situates us as attentive listeners to other religious traditions. After declaring the light of God upon all people and laying a theological framework for particularity amidst plurality, we will train our attention on three particular sacred stories—Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism. Each sacred story will be expressed by a religious leader who will speak to us out of their own tradition while making connections to values we at Pearl hold dear—gratitude, inclusion, integration, peace, renewal, and transformation. Our hope for this series is to encourage understanding, empathy, appreciation, and connection to our religious neighbors who, alongside us, seek out the light of the Divine. 

This week’s guest speaker is Imam Mohamad Jamal Daoudi. Imam Jamal was born in Damascus, Syria. He graduated from Damascus University in 1988 with BA in English Literature, continued his Islamic education at The Islamic Call College/Damascus and graduated with BA Shari’ah / Islamic Sciences and Arabic Language in 1991. He came to the US in 1995 and started his first position as Imam at The Islamic Center of North Valley, Lancaster-CA. He earned his Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary. Imam Daoudi is specialized in the areas of Quranic interpretation “Tafsir”, Hadith, counseling and interfaith dialogues and activities. He works with the Trifaith Initiative. Imam Jamal is a United States citizen and is a father of three, a daughter and two boys.