National cathedral hosts Muslim prayer service
(The Christian Science Monitor) Prayer carpets for a Muslim Jumu’ah service were spread out in a transept wing of the Washington National Cathedral Friday, November 14, as religious leaders prepared to host the church’s first-ever Muslim-led prayers.
The carpets were arranged diagonally to face Mecca, as is required for Muslim prayers, and now lie under the grand Gothic arches of the National Cathedral, which has a traditional floor plan in the form of a cross. The transept area consists of the two side wings of the church and includes chapels off to the side of the main altar.
The symbolism of Muslim prayers ringing out in America’s symbolic spiritual center—a cathedral of the Episcopal Church in the nation’s capital which has hosted presidential funerals, inaugural prayer services, and other nationally important spiritual services—is an attempt to heal the religious rifts that afflict the globe, organizers said.
