Manchester, England – The elderly Jewish woman and Muslim man whose photo mourning together at a memorial to the victims of the Manchester attack went viral on social media say they have been good friends for over 10 years.
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Renee Black, 93, and Sadiq Patel, 46, from Blackburn, Lancashire, one of the most deprived and racially segregated areas in Britain, are both members of The Interfaith Forum, a voluntary group devoted to promoting harmony between different faiths and ethnic communities, the London-based Daily Mail reported.
The two friends told the newspaper that they had intended to stop at Albert Square in Manchester to just pay their respects and leave a bouquet of flowers, but first Black and then Patel broke down thinking about all of the young lives cut off in the blast and remained at the site for a couple of hours, piquing the curiosity of passers-by.
“When I look at Sadiq, I don’t see a Muslim and when he looks at me he doesn’t see a Jew. He is one of my dearest and most caring friends. I don’t know what I’d do without him,” Black told the newspaper.
“When we were walking through Albert Square I kept asking Sadiq: ‘Why is everyone looking at us?’ I couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about us being there together. All I could think about was that poor little eight-year-old girl. God’s been good to me. I am at the edge of life now, while hers should have been spread out before her,” she also said.
As a Muslim, I felt quite nervous about going to Albert Square. You are never sure how people might react to you, because these radicalized terrorists have tarnished the Islam faith,” Patel told the Daily Mail.
“I was worried we might attract attention, but I was surprised by how much. The atmosphere was so sombre and quiet and we both felt very emotional. Renee was really upset thinking about the poor children who died. For both us it felt incomprehensible that someone could take all those innocent lives in the name of faith. It’s certainly not a faith either of us recognizes,” he said.
Patel, who is a devout Muslim, visits Black, who is Sabbath-observant, every few days, and drives her to Manchester to purchase kosher food.
Why on earth would a 90+ Shomer Shabbos Jewish woman live in a place like Blackburn? Somehow, I think our definitions of Shomer Shabbat are different.
Rabbi and Antoninus were close friends, too. I guess it happens every few thousand years.
“Patel, who is a devout Muslim”
Whats devout? Does he fast every day of ramdan? Does, he abstain from alcohol? Does he daven with a minyan 5 times a day as required by the koran?
It is not unusual for Jews and Arabs to maintain a cordial relationship, as they are not natural enemies. At my place of business, there was an Economist, who was from Lebanon. The gentiles could never understand how well both us us got along, when they saw us conversing. His Father was an executive with a major Arab Airline. When I asked him how his Father was able to keep the airline running, when there was a civil war going on, he gave me a very logical answer. He stated that his Father had a meeting with the various factions, who were killing each other. He told them in simple terms, to stay the h— away from his airline. They respected him, and never once attacked that airline. Incidentally, he told me that he once got into an argument with a Professor from Kuwait. He told him that the Kuwaitis were the biggest hypocrites, as they mistreated the Palestinians, during the First Gulf War. In fact, Israel had to rescue hundreds of Palestinians, whom Kuwait banished into the Jordanian desert.