Islamic prayer chanted at Catholic university Mass attended by archbishop

(LifeSiteNews) — An Islamic passage from the Quran was chanted in Arabic at the opening Mass of a university in Belgium.

A young man chanted a passage from Surah Ash-Shu’ara (The Poets), which reads, “And relate to them the story of Abraham, when he asked his father and his people, ‘What do you worship?’” as shown in a video posted to Facebook.

The Islamic prayers were part of “interreligious dialogue” at KU Leuven, a Catholic university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. KU Leuven reportedly planned to have a Jewish religious text recited as well, “but this was dropped at the last moment,” AdVaticanum reported. “Readings from Anglicans and Protestants” were also reportedly said during Mass, which was attended by Archbishop Luc Terlinden.

KVHV-Leuven, a student organization at the university, told AdVaticanum that it is not the first time that Islamic prayers have been recited at Mass there.

“Last year, Islamic prayers were also chanted during this Mass as part of ‘interreligious dialogue’. This year, it was the same but now our cameras were at the ready,” the group said.

They published a video of the Mass in order to highlight what they said is the problematic policy of trying to “fabricate some kind of ‘middleground’ between religions that are incompatible at their core.”

“We understand and defend the position of our university as a place of dialogue, interchanging of ideas and religious criticism. We believe, however, that these things should be left to professors and researchers in dedicated centres. This so-called ‘dialogue’ has no place however during the Holy Eucharist as it devalues Christian traditions as well as respect for Islamic cultures,” the student organization said. 

“Therefore, we wish our university, and our bishops, to give the church back to the Christians and to leave the mosques for Muslims. Then, and only then, we can have a proper dialogue and exchanging of cultures between religions.”