Contents
Editorial
Articles
- The International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF), Łukasz Liniewicz
- Learning from Interfaith Dialogue, Sister Isabel Smyth
- Faith, Trust and the Courage to Live Truthfully, John Billings
Arts & Religion
- Religious Artefacts: What is it?
- Saint Sophia and her Daughters, Saints Faith, Hope and Love, Paul Overend
Regulars
- On Lived Religion, Paul Overend
- Lived Religion: Simon Cross
- Books: Book Reviews, ‘Notices’ and Conversation
- Books: Notices
- Review: Jesus and the powers by Tom Wright and Michael Bird, reviewed by Dominic Kirkham
- Reflections on Religion and Worldviews Education (RE), Dave Francis and Denise Cush
- Letters
- Network Matters: Sofia
- Conference notice
Editorial: Living Faith
Religious Artefacts
What is it?
What is the religious significance of this lamp?
Exploring meaning in religious arts, crafts and ritual objects.
Answer: A Ramadan Fanous
Such a lantern is traditionally crafted with coloured glass in an octagon shape, is made of copper material, and at one time would have housed an oil lamp. Today, a lamp might equally be crafted at home or in school with coloured paper or translucent cellophane sheets and small battery-lit light bulb.
The name ‘fanous’ simply means lamp (from the Arabic fanoos, a light or lantern). But among Muslims the fanous has become associated with Ramadan celebrations, when colourful lamps are used to greet or announce the festival.
Muslims are observing the month of Ramadan as this edition of Sofia comes into print. In our Western calendar year, Ramadan is being kept this year [2026, Hijri 1447–1448] from the evening of 17 February–19 March, for twenty–nine or thirty days, from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next.
A verse from a celebrated chapter in the Qur’an that is known as the Sura of Light (Surah an-Nur), reads:
Allāh is the Light of the heavens and the earth. … His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree’ (Qur’an, Sura 24: 35.1-24)
The final 10 days of Ramadan are thought to hold immense spiritual significance. It is a time for the renewal of faith, during which Muslims seek God’s mercy by prayer and supplication, the recitation of Quran, and giving alms and undertaking charitable deeds. These final days include celebrations (especially on the 21st, 23rd, 25th, & 27th nights of Ramadan) of the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr), the occasion that the first verses of the Qur’an are thought to have been revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
While Muslims have no official religious symbols, the use of lanterns at Ramadan is a widespread cultural tradition that has gained religious significance. Symbolising the shining light of divine revelation, fanous are seen to be a light of faith and a sign of hope.
Letters
Please send letters to our Letters Editor, Stephen Mitchell letters@sofn.uk
I congratulate the departing editor, David, on the Sofia series on Resistance. The last edition was a courageous and challenging finale.
What truly struck me was Syed Mustafa Ali’s article, “The Violence of (White) Nonviolence.” I am thinking hard about using the concept of ‘whiteness’ in place of ‘white supremacy’ or ‘colonialism’, though we should accept the challenge of understanding what whiteness is and how it came about. My article in the Sofia 148 (2023) was my attempt to do that.
The distinction between violence and counter-violence is critical. Well-meaning white liberals of the “why can’t we all get along and be nice to each other” sort are aiding, and not just complicit in, the violence of oppression! That’s true in two crude ways. Firstly, they deflect attention from the cause of the violence; the inherent violence of the Zionist state is the clearest current example. Secondly, they deny the justice of counterviolence.
White liberal violence, couched as non-violence, appears in two ways. First, in the arrogance of telling oppressed people how they can and can’t resist as illustrated a couple of years ago by those claiming to support justice in Palestine, while condemning the counterviolence of resistance by Hamas and its allies. Second, and a result of white ‘nonviolence’, is the moral equivalence drawn between the oppressed and the oppressor, viewing the violence of oppression by the Zionist regime as equivalent to the counterviolence of resistance by Palestinians. If you take this view, it becomes almost inevitable that you will succumb to the bullying of the powerful and the oppressors – don’t mention the BBC!
Notably, Ali acknowledges the place of nonviolence in the struggle for justice and the contribution that groups advocating non-violence can make. The Quakers stand out. And groups such as Christian CND have played a significant role in Palestine solidarity, being visible at marches. We need these groups at the same time as we need to understand how nonviolence and whiteness are linked.
David Rhodes
Readers may be interested in an update on the Defend our Juries Lift the Ban campaign.
The campaign is based on mass action, and there have so far been around 2,700 arrests for displaying signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”. Of the 540 of us arrested on 9 August 2025, about 240 have been charged under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act so far, though The Crown Prosecution Service have six months from the date of arrest to charge people. Not many of the more than 800 who were arrested on 6 September have been charged yet, whereas quite a few of the 480 arrested on 4 October have been charged.
I was charged, I have entered my not-guilty plea, and submitted a defence statement, and look forward to my case being heard at Stratford Magistrates Court in London on 1 July.
However, the Judicial Review of the proscription of Palestine Action (PA) is about to reach a conclusion as to whether the proscription is declared unlawful, is reversed, or is upheld, although the losing side will almost certainly appeal. If the proscription is reversed rather than declared unlawful, then PA would have been legally proscribed at the time of our arrest, so prosecution would remain a possibility. The Judicial Review was due to be heard by Mr Justice Chamberlain who had previously indicated that he accepted that PA is not a terror organisation in the ‘colloquial’ meaning of the term, but just before the Review was about to start, he was replaced by a panel of three judges suspected to be less sympathetic to PA.
Meanwhile, despite the ceasefire, Palestinians in Gaza are still being killed and the attacks on Palestinian communities in the occupied territories of the West Bank are, if anything, ramping up. The outlook for Palestinians is grim.
David Chapman
I was “released under investigation” for September’s demo and arrested again in November outside the courts of justice. I’m supposed to appear at Plumstead police station on 23 February to be charged. Perhaps by then the courts will have decided to have the ban lifted or I may well get another RUI letter from the Met. who knows.
Meanwhile, I missed the Channel 4 programme Palestine Action: The Truth Behind the Ban. I can’t help feeling very suspicious and more than a little annoyed!
Caroline Pickard
STOP PRESS: SoF Network Conference 2026
Creativity, Curiosity, Celebration
Thursday 10th to Friday 11th September at the Coram Centre in London.
The conference will broadly focus on the arts and creativity from a SoF point of view as they relate to our notion of religion and worldviews.
Book reviews, notices and conversation
David Lambourn introduces our new book reviews, notices and conversation section.
- Nicholas Spencer, Magisteria: the Entangled Histories of Science and Religion (One World, 2023).
- Lamorna Ash, Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever: a New Generation’s Search for Religion (Bloomsbury, 2025).
- George van Kooten, Reverberations of Good News: the Gospels in Context Then and Now (SCM, 2026).
- Alice Roberts, Domination: the Fall of the Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity (Simon & Schuster, 2025)
- Luke Kemp, Goliath’s Curse: the History and Future of Societal Collapse (Penguin, 2025).
- J. Brian Tucker & Aaron Kuecker, Social Identity Commentary on the New Testament (T&T Clark, 2025).
- Fara Dabhoiwala, What is Free Speech?: the History of a Dangerous Idea (Allen Lane, 2025).
- Georgios Varouxakis, The West: the History of an Idea (Princeton, 2025).