Kerala: Church welcomes Muslims to offer Namaz       

Marthoma Cheriapally, a local church in Ernakulam district of Kerala allowed hundreds of Muslims to offer their Maghrib prayer in its premises on Saturday, winning appreciation for setting an example in communal harmony amid the anti-CAA agitation.

A group of protesters against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed NRC had marched for 10km from Muvattupuzha to Kothamangalam, in Ernakulam district, when they realised it was time for evening prayers. The Church not only opened its doors to the Muslims, but its priest also offered water for them to perform the “Wudhu” the ritual cleansing.

The choir sang one of the songs in the traditional Muslim style of Mappilapattu.

“In times like this when people are being segregated on communal lines, this is an example of communal amity for the entire nation to understand and follow”, Mathew Kuzhalnadan, state president of the All India Professional Congress, a Congress arm that was one of the organisers of the march, told The Telegraph.

Father Paruthiveli told The News Minute that such practices have been common there for centuries. This is not the first such act of secular harmony in Kerala. The Cheraman Juma Masjid in Kodungallur frequently conducts the Vidyarambham ceremony invoking the goddess Saraswati on Vijayadashami day.

The anti-CAA protests have witnessed many such acts being conducted to spread the spirit of harmony.

On December 23, members of the choir at the St Thomas Mar Thoma Church in Pathanamthitta donned skull caps and sang the traditional “Mappila” songs of the Muslim community.

After last year’s floods in Kerala, Muslims had helped clean the slush-filled temples; churches had opened their doors for Muslims to pray, and mosques had fed thousands of the marooned and displaced irrespective of their religion.