Qur’an Recitation in Christmas Carols?

As the procession of clergy and choir singers made its way down the aisle towards a candle-lit altar, solemnly following the cross and Bible held high, there was one thing that looked out of place… It was me, a hijabi Muslim girl in a Christian service!

The last time I stood at a church lectern reading out from Holy Scripture, I was at primary school, a timid girl reciting words from the New Testament. Over two decades later, I find myself again at the lectern of a beautiful 19th century chapel, this time invited by the chaplain to read translated verses from the Qur’an.

I felt a sense of both honor and humility, as I read the account in Surah Maryam (Qur’anic chapter 19) relating how the Angel Gabriel appears to inform the blessed Virgin that she is to bear a pure son. I was not here to convert the masses, but to confirm where our faiths overlap, to feel a connection –, one of spirituality, one of humanity.

As a child, I attended service every Monday at my Church of England school – to this day, I know the Lord’s Prayer by heart along with countless hymns, as do many British Muslims of my generation. We had a plastic Christmas tree at home and we ate halal turkey in Christmas occasion. Both my brother and I were in nativity plays; as the only Asian in his school, he was of course the black king. I was an angel, or possibly a sheep. For most Muslim families in the eighties, it was normal for their children to take part in festivities while for some others, it was tantamount to blasphemy.

A Compromise of Faith?

Just last week, a young Muslim mother called me for advice about her five year old son being in a nativity play. She told me how excited he was to take part with his friends, but she was a little shaken by what a few members of the community had said to her: “Take your son out of the play right away,” they warned, “he may turn Christian.”

As perplexing as this sounded to me, it seemed these individuals feared a compromise of faith, whereas I can only see a strengthening of it. Perhaps I cannot say with certainty whether a five year old would incur spiritual upheaval or transformation by re-enacting another’s religious tradition, but it is dangerous ground when you disconnect your child from the world around him, from other faiths, cultures and customs, cocooning him in a homogenous bubble. For me, denying that experience reflects insecurity about one’s own faith and it is an attitude that sits uncomfortably in a multi-faith society.

Contrary to unpopular belief, I have not ‘turned Christian’, in fact, I feel more Muslim for being part of this experience. Some may question my being in a Christian procession, and of course people are entitled to hold their criticisms. Yet the choir’s singing stirred my connection with the Divine. These hymns are sung not with the intention to entertain but for a higher purpose, which is to glorify God. To learn of other faith experiences in profound and relevant ways would not only enrich my own understanding and approach to religion in general, but would also give me a deeper sense of purpose to my own faith.

It Was a Joyful Experience!

That the chaplaincy of Royal Holloway University chapel sought to include a reading from the Qur’an embedded in this Christian service is testament to a more embracing and open approach that can only be admired. “Christmas is a joyful celebration of God’s love made real among all people,” the chaplaincy stated, “so it is with particular pleasure we welcome representatives of the Jewish and Islamic faiths, which have so much shared heritage with Christianity.” Now that’s what I call peripheral vision.

It is fitting that I gave a reading in the chapel of my alma mater, as it was here that I began life as a hijabi, here where my faith deepened. During the moving choral song, I remembered my father, who in a similar experience gave a reading from the Qur’an in a church service some thirty years ago. My father may have departed this world, but his attitude and vision, one that sought to build community relations through mutual respect and understanding, lives on in me.

Our beliefs, our creed and our faith expressions are different, contrary, worlds apart even, but this only makes the common ground that we stand upon all the more sacred.