CHAPEL HILL – The roomful of worshippers listened as the sermon wound toward its conclusion: “We need to think about how to change to become positive contributors to society in America. … We have a mission for the betterment of ourselves and our society.”
Afterward, women hugged and men shook hands.
This wasn’t a Sunday morning sermon, though. It was a khutba, and the service was on a Friday, or Juma’ah, the Sabbath in the Islamic world.
Some 30 Muslims from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community met to pray at the the Chapel Hill Friends Meeting, the worship hall facility for local Quakers, on Raleigh Road. Women gathered in the rear, while the men knelt in front, all facing toward Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the Muslim holy city.
“Up until now, we were restricted to a room at UNC Hospitals,” said Yousef Mohsin, a junior at UNC from New York City. “I’m glad to have a place to worship.”
“It’s wonderful for students and the Muslim community, and provides a great platform for Muslims to get together,” said Sanam Sheikh of Chapel Hill. READ MORE
