At Duke Chapel, welcoming Muslims with a call to prayer

With the recent attacks in Paris and Pakistan and renewed conflict in Nigeria, there is much negative press focused on parts of the Muslim world. From ISIS to Boko Haram to al-Qaida, Muslims in the media are portrayed as angry aggressors driven by values that are anti-education and anti-Western.

Yet, at Duke University, the Muslim community represents a strikingly different face of Islam than is seen on the nightly news: one that is peaceful and prayerful. This face of the faith will be given more of a voice as the Duke Muslim community begins chanting the adhan, the call to prayer, from the Duke Chapel bell tower on Fridays beginning this week. It will be chanted by Muslim students prior to the jummah prayer service that takes place in the chapel basement each Friday afternoon.

This opportunity represents a larger commitment to religious pluralism that is at the heart of Duke’s mission and connects the university to national trends in religious accommodation. Many institutions work diligently to provide meaningful worship opportunities for students of different religious traditions. Most often, this takes the form of a multi-purpose prayer room or space that can be rearranged or changed to fit the religious tastes of the group using it.

Duke has taken a different approach, however. It supports religious groups in their particularities and practices. With separate centers for Christian, Jewish and Muslim life and with dedicated prayer rooms for Catholics, Hindus and Buddhists, Duke responds to religious diversity not by reducing all traditions to one common denominator but by attempting to let each religious group on campus express itself in its own unique way.

The neo-gothic cathedral at the heart of Duke’s campus is a symbol of the faith of the school’s founders, but the use of it as a minaret allows for the interreligious reimagining of a university icon. So, while it might seem an odd juxtaposition to have the adhan chanted in the same tower from which bells toll daily (and twice on Sundays!), it is actually in keeping with the university’s commitment to fostering the spiritual development of all students. The chanting of the adhan communicates to the Muslim community that it is welcome here, that its worship matters, that these prayers enhance the community and that all are invited to stop on a Friday afternoon and pray.

I am not aware of any other church bell tower that is also used to announce the Muslim call to prayer. Whether prayers are lifted up from these communities in Latin, Arabic, Urdu, Spanish or English, they all contribute to Duke’s motto of erudition et religio (learning and faith). When people of great faith are given access to great possibilities for learning that respect religious diversity, all humanity flourishes.

The chanting of the adhan might barely make a ripple in the lives of many at Duke. Students passing by the Chapel Quad at 12:45 p.m. on a Friday afternoon might catch sight of the student muezzin facing Mecca in the Chapel tower. If those same students do not have earbuds in, they might catch a strain of the Arabic proclamation, “Allahu Akbar!” which means “God is great!” And, if they are so inclined, they might say a quick prayer under the breath or even pause for a moment’s reflection.

But for Muslim students, the adhan will sound as familiar as the prayers recited since birth. And Insha’Allah, “if God wills it,” the act of chanting it and hearing it proclaimed might help students feel more at home in a world marred by weekly acts of violence and daily discriminations.

Perhaps, too, this small token of welcome will provide a platform for a truer voice to resonate: a voice that challenges media stereotypes of Muslims, a voice of wisdom, a voice prayer and a voice of peace.

Christy Lohr Sapp is associate dean for religious life at Duke University Chapel in Durham.

This story was originally published January 14, 2015 at 4:10 PM with the headline "At Duke Chapel, welcoming Muslims with a call to prayer."