BY CHRISS WILLIAMS | Love for thy Muslim neighbors was strong at the end of last month when East Village residents gathered for an interfaith evening of music and recitations.
Members of Madina Masjid, the mosque at 401 E. 11th St., heard it as they joined seven other local congregations at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, at 131 E. 10th St., for the seventh annual Spiritual Sounds.
In a year when presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s opinions of Muslims have been broadcast around the world, feeling the support of people from different religions is important, Imam Achmed Abu Sufian said.
“Our history with these faith leaders and community gives me a true sense of what America is that is hard to find anywhere else,” he said in an interview.
Event organizer Anthony Donovan told the 250 people in attendance that stronger relations among their respective communities has created unity in a year when presidential politics has created division.
Donovan had an idea years ago that he shared with Reverend Christopher Calin of the Orthodox Cathedral of Holy Virgin Protection, at 59 E. Second St.: namely, an event where the neighborhood’s diverse faith communities could gather and “get past their comfort zones” through a shared medium.
“It’s been a challenge since Day One. There have been many discussions about what can’t happen, what can,” Donovan reflected. Such challenges include dietary restrictions preventing serving a large-scale communal meal, but the music and readings transcend those difficulties.
“I would walk around the neighborhood and walk by this church,” Calin said. “I would walk by Middle Collegiate Church, the Sixth St. Synagogue or the mosque on 11th St. and have no means of identifying or having a connection with them. Now I know them. I love them.”
Local faith groups participating in this year’s event included Light of Guidance Sufi Center, Madina Masjid, Town & Village Synagogue, St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery, The Bhakti Center, The Catholic Worker, Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection and Middle Collegiate Church. Members of three other groups listed on the program were unable to attend due too illness or community obligations that had to be postponed as a result of the recent blizzard.
There was plenty of traditional liturgical music, chants and Koranic recitations.
“We sing songs that celebrate the creation of life and how we celebrate our lives,” said local resident Kim Kalesti, whose composition “For the Universe” was performed by the St. Marks choir.
The night’s youngest performer was Ishaak, 11, of Madina Masjid, who recited a portion of the Koran that is merely a fragment of the 400 pages he’s read and memorized over the past two years.
Songs like the soulful “Every Step of the Way,” performed by St. Mark’s choir, and the uptempo O’Jays hit “Love Train,” sung by a Middle Collegiate Church member, brought the audience to their feet. They clapped and sang while a multifaith conga line weaved through the space, led by Middle Collegiate’s Reverend Adriene Thorne. Rabbi Laurence Sebert of Town & Village Synagogue, at 334 E. 14th St., regretted not jumping in to the play the drums. He was beaten out by Jay Sayer from St. Mark’s, whose rhythms enhanced the evening’s magic.
“Religion should bring people together, and instead we all too often use it as a place to divide,” said interim pastor Allison Moore of St. Marks’s.
Yet, a first encounter with Spiritual Sounds can be hard to top, according to actress Vinie Burrows, who attended the event. She described it as something truly “special and unique” in her 50 years of living in the East Village.
“It was absolutely amazing,” she said.
Others in attendance agreed that they would like to see more events exhibiting such harmony.
“Every time you come here you uplift spiritually,” Imam Sufian said. “You see beautiful hearts that go beyond their religion and color.”
