Muslims and Bell-Tower Controversy<\/p>\n
Duke University’s decision to rescind its earlier approval to\u00c2\u00a0allow the use of campus bell-tower for a weekly Islamic prayer\u00c2\u00a0call has drawn widespread attention. Among the chief opponents of\u00c2\u00a0this accommodation to campus Muslims is Reverend Franklin Graham.\u00c2\u00a0He says, “It is wrong because it’s a different god. Using the bell\u00c2\u00a0tower, that signifies worship of Jesus Christ. Using (it) as a\u00c2\u00a0minaret is wrong” (quoted in Atlanta Journal Constitution,\u00c2\u00a01\/16\/15).<\/p>\n
It is ironic, however, that Franklin Graham’s father,\u00c2\u00a0Reverend Billy Graham, was more polite and tolerant about Islam\u00c2\u00a0and Muslims. In the wake of the 9\/11 tragedy, the elder\u00c2\u00a0Evangelical preached, in true Christian spirit, that we “should\u00c2\u00a0regard Muslims not as the enemy but as fellow-believers who\u00c2\u00a0worshiped the same God” (Washington Post, 9\/2\/02). Of course, over\u00c2\u00a0the centuries, numerous non-Muslim authorities (religious and\u00c2\u00a0others) have acknowledged that.<\/p>\n
As to the bell-tower, it is a replica of the Islamic prayer-call\u00c2\u00a0minaret, brought to Latin-Europe by St. Francis of Assisi\u00c2\u00a0(1181-1226) from his missionary travels to the Islamic lands.\u00c2\u00a0While in Egypt , Francis “was deeply impressed by the religious\u00c2\u00a0devotion of Muslims, especially by their daily calls for prayer.”\u00c2\u00a0And, “the thrice-daily recitation of the Angelus that became\u00c2\u00a0current in Europe after this visit was precipitated by the\u00c2\u00a0impression made on Francis by the call of the muezzin (just as the\u00c2\u00a0quintessential Catholic devotion of the rosary derives from the\u00c2\u00a0Muslim prayer beads)” (see Thomas Cahill, “The Peaceful\u00c2\u00a0Crusade: Francis of Assisi,” New York Times, 12\/25\/06).<\/p>\n
Incidentally, part of St. Francis’ mission was to convert Egypt’s\u00c2\u00a0Sultan al-Malik Kamil (reign: 1218-1238). He didn’t succeed, but\u00c2\u00a0he “came away from the peaceful encounter with revolutionary ideas
\nthat called for Christians to live harmoniously with Muslims.”\u00c2\u00a0Amen. (See Paul Moses, The Saint and the Sultan: The Crusades,\u00c2\u00a0Islam, and Francis of Assisi’s Mission of Peace, Image\u00c2\u00a0Publishers; 2009).<\/p>\n
S.M. Ghazanfar
\n(Emeritus-Prof., University of Idaho)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Muslims and Bell-Tower Controversy Duke University’s decision to rescind its earlier approval to\u00c2\u00a0allow the use of campus bell-tower for a weekly Islamic prayer\u00c2\u00a0call has drawn widespread attention. Among the chief opponents of\u00c2\u00a0this accommodation to campus Muslims is Reverend Franklin Graham.\u00c2\u00a0He says, “It is wrong because it’s a different god. Using the bell\u00c2\u00a0tower, that signifies worship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13148"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13153,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13148\/revisions\/13153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}