With millions of Christians pushed out of the Middle East, slaughtered, and oppressed over the last decades, Europe’s Christians take a decidedly different stance towards the continent’s Muslims. Muslim ceremonies in Christian churches are not totally out of the ordinary now, with Christians increasingly making efforts to promote “interfaith” events.
In Belgium, about 500 people gathered at the Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist in Molenbeek, near Brussels, according to Do Rzeczy, to take part in iftar, the evening meal eaten after sunset during Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month.
Molenbeek is one of the most multicultural cities in the Western world, and is home to 140 nationalities and religions. The neighborhood has been known for its links with Islamist extremism and terrorism, and has been stigmatized for this reason. Currently, efforts are underway to make it the European City of Culture in 2030 as a place of cultural diversity.
Jasmine del Monte, director of Stronger with Words, told Euronews that hosting iftar in a church is a “symbol of diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism,” with people from many religions, cultures and places of origin gathering there on Sunday, March 23.
However, to the question “whether Muslims are allowed to celebrate Easter in a mosque?”, Google has a very different answer for how Muslims should approach this question. The first result states the following:
It is not permissible for the Muslims to attend the festivals of the disbelievers, according to the consensus of the scholars whose words carry weight. The jurists who follow the four schools of thought have stated this clearly in their books… Al-Bayhaqi narrated with a sound chain of transmission from ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab that he said: “Do not enter upon the disbelievers in their churches on the day of their festival for divine wrath is descending upon them.” And ‘Umar also said: “Avoid the enemies of Allah on their festivals.”
Al-Bayhaqi narrated with a good chain of transmission from ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Amr that he said: “Whoever settles in the land of the non-Arabs and celebrates their new year and festival and imitates them until he dies in that state, will be gathered with them on the Day of Resurrection.” (Ahkam Ahl al-Dhimmah, 1/723-724)
As with many aspects of multiculturalism, it appears to generally be a one-way street.
The organization of Molenbeek for Brussels 2030 stated that the shared meal was a time of solidarity, establishing and strengthening mutual bonds.
“By organizing an iftar in a church on the first weekend of spring, Molenbeek for Brussels 2030 sends a strong signal: Above and beyond beliefs and cultural and social backgrounds, what unites us is much greater than what divides us,” the organization explains.
In recent years, Muslim migrants have attacked churches and Christians in Europe and beyond. The situation has gotten so bad that some churches now have emergency panic buttons following Islamic terror attacks.
