Eye - 9 December 2022

From A touching encounter to Not just porridge!

'We thank Allah for the Quakers. Nobody else would allow us a room to meet in.' | Photo: Bradford Meeting by John H Hall

A touching encounter

This isn’t just a page for the light-hearted, but for the heart-warming – which is exactly what popped into Eye’s mailbag from John H Hall, of Clacton Meeting.

He tells Eye: ‘In 2009, as part of our project to photograph all Quaker Meeting houses (bit.ly/qmhouse), Jacky and I were in Bradford. I photographed the outside and hearing people inside knocked on the door so I could photograph the Meeting room. A young Muslim woman in a hijab came to the front door and we explained why we were there. She said she was sorry that she could not let us in because theirs was a meeting for Muslim battered wives.

‘As we turned away, she said: “We thank Allah for the Quakers. Nobody else would allow us a room to meet in.”’

Are there encounters that have warmed your heart? Share them with us via eye@thefriend.org.

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