Wedding Invitation

I attended a wedding at our church about a month ago, and was surprised by who came and sat down next to me. It was a Muslim neighbor related to our former guard’s wife, who seems to always be involved in what’s going on in our block. He visits us from time to time still, and so we have a good relationship, but I was surprised to see him in a church. My guess is that he came because the bride’s family is from our general neighborhood and so he may know them. But I thought it was pretty neat that he felt comfortable to come to this worship service and found a familiar face to sit next to. I found myself wondering what he was thinking about all the worship songs and prayers and activity, having heard that often Muslim wedding ceremonies only involve representatives from the families signing a document and then a short prayer.

I got to find out a little more a few weeks later when this neighbor stopped by to invite me to the wedding prayers for another neighbor the next day in the morning. I was not sure what to expect at all, but heard it may be like the prayer I attended after our guard’s death. I was relieved that when I started walking to the place where everyone was gathering, the neighbor who invited me came right out to me and led me to where we were actually going. We went to the closest neighborhood mosque and sat in a large block of chairs outside for about an hour while some 300 other men gathered and milled about. Neither the groom nor bride was present. The Imams sat on mats right outside the front door. One was given a lapel microphone from inside. He proceeded to say a one minute prayer. Then everyone stood up and greeted each other. And that was it! Very different from the Christian wedding experience, but very interesting. There was eating and live music all night the night before and more eating afterward, so I think the wedding party is probably the most similar thing across these two traditions.