Voice from the Pew - Max Busch

Max Busch is interested in learning about other religions and shares with us a recent experience...

My name is Max Busch. I am 9 and in 4th grade. I go St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. I go to Sunday School all the time.

One day, I went to a dinner with my mom and dad at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh. It is a mosque that Muslims worship at. I found out at it that I could go to Sunday School there. I wanted to go, so my mom asked if I could and they said yes.

I went to the Sunday School after the dinner. When I got there, they welcomed me and told me what their names were and what their names meant Some people in my class said their parents were from Sudan, Palestine, and Syria. They asked me about me and who I was named after. I told them Saint Maximilian. I also learned that they have a very nice class.

I learned that in Islam, people learn about the prophets. They also read the Koran. The prophets are people who tell words of God. I already knew about some of the prophets because they are in the Bible. They asked me questions about what I believe.

Then we went to prayer. We took off our shoes because shoes could not go inside the prayer room. We also washed our hands before prayer. At prayer, Muslims kneel and bow their heads. A man led prayers. He spoke Arabic. After prayer, we ate. I liked lunch. I ate chicken and rice with salad.

I also learned Arabic. My favorite part was learning Arabic. We learned how to write every single letter of the alphabet. We learned that the letters connect differently if they are at the beginning, middle, or end of a word. Instead of going left to right like in English, people write left to right in Arabic. I also learned words. One word was shokran. It means thank you. Salam means peace. Iqra means read.

I want to go back. They are kind. My friends asked if they can come some time to my church. I hope they can come some time because I went to their church and it would be nice for them to come over.

Do you have a personal story about your faith journey you'd like to share with us? Or perhaps a suggestion of who might have an ineresting story to tell? If so, contact Lisa Brown