Muslims Attend Catholic Mass to Show Support After Murder of Catholic Priest
- By Gary Nguyen --
- 05 Aug 2016 --
Muslims show a gesture of unity and solidarity by attending Mass after the murder of a Catholic priest.
The Muslims in France have gone out of all bounds to show their solidarity with the Christian community of France who are grieving the recent murder of a priest and abduction of four attendees during a Mass in a church at Rouen. The Muslims reacted not by speeches and words, but by attending masses all across France and even in Italy in huge numbers, calling out only one message: “We are brothers and sisters.”
Muslims Attend Catholic Mass to Show Support After Murder of Catholic Priest[/tweetthis]
It was indeed heart-touching to see the masses of Muslims filling up inside the churches in France, embracing their Christian brothers and sisters and assuring them of their support and prayers in these hard times.
The killing of Father Jacques Hamel sparked what can be called one of Europe's most historic moments with such a massive show of religious solidarity where Muslims and Jews joined the Christians in paying homage to the slain priest. At a time when Europe is burning with tragedies committed by ISIS and the Muslim community is tired of having their religion being defaced by extremists, this act of love sends a very clear and bold message to the terrorists: The Muslim Ummah does not approve of them and neither does the Quran.
The Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun has expressed his appreciation at this gesture by the Muslim community. He said that the Christians are very moved by the act of the community and believes that it was rather courageous of them to do so, without fear of any repercussions. Echoing this, the Imam of Vobarno Mosque in Italy, Ahmed El Balazi asserts that the Muslims are not afraid of any repercussions of what they did and are proud that they have shown their solidarity with their brothers and sisters.
Muslims attend Catholic mass in France and Italy after priest’s murder https://t.co/eTRcBd6D0e #muslim #catholic #france #italy #priest
— Tom Heneghan (@RTRFaithWorld) August 1, 2016
One of the nuns who was taken hostage by the terrorist youth took turns to shake hands with the Muslims who attended the mass and even embraced them. Highlighting this action by the Muslim Community were a group of Muslim who held up a banner that read “Love for all, Hatred for none.”
At a time when the world is burning with religious hatred and violence, and the Muslim community is reeling under the effects of rising Islamophobia, this act of solidarity comes as a strong and bold step towards cementing love and respect between religions.