Duke University chapel to include Muslim call to weekly prayer service

In the midst of growing anti-Islamic fervor in Europe and the confusion of a religion with the radical behavior of a small group of violent extremists, I feel a great deal of pride in my own alma mater:  Duke University.

The center of the main campus is the interdenominational chapel with its imposing bell tower.   This carefully planned set of linking quadrangles was designed to place the chapel at the center of campus life -- although it is not known primarily as a religious school.

The Muslim call to prayer will now be heard from the bell tower, echoed by members of the Muslim Students Association, to announce the weekly Jummah prayer service, held each Friday in a suitable space within the chapel.

According to the associate dean for religious life, "This opportunity represents a larger commitment to religious pluralism that is at the heart of Duke's mission.   Omid Safi, director of Duke's Islamic Studies Center, told the Huffington Post that the response to the decision has been "overwhelmingly positive."

He continued:  "We have over 700 Muslim members of the Duke community . . . .  There is room at Duke for Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, atheists, agnostics ... people of every faith and no faith."

Imam Adeel Zeb, a Muslim chaplain and director for Muslim Life at Duke, seconded those feelings during a phone call with HuffPost.  "Personally, I'm thrilled that the Duke administration has facilitated such a wonderful opportunity for the Muslim students to feel welcome and uplifted, and feel that the campus is as much theirs as any other student on campus," he said. "It's a blessing. It's hard to explain in words how [grateful the students are]; how much the administration and people who are hearing about it across the U.S. and the Muslim community, have been so excited that Duke is a welcoming place for them." 

This makes Duke one of the first U. S. private universities to give such a prominence to the call to the weekly prayer service:  from the chapel's tower at the very center of the campus.

Sixty-two years ago, as a Duke sophomore, I took a course in comparative world religions and learned about Islam, along with Judaism, Christianity, and the eastern religions.

Ralph