First is the call to prayer.On the lawn outside the Hillel Center, Muslim students prostrate themselves before God, facing in the direction of Mecca.
Inside, Jewish students recite the services for Shabbat, or the day of rest. Two ancient languages, Hebrew and Arabic, rise and fall together, both repeating the words for peace: "Shalom" in Hebrew and "Salam" in Arabic -- words that share a linguistic root.
This scene took place Friday night as part of a joint program between Hillel Jewish Student Union and the Muslim Students Association. The event was called "Open Doors."
The event began at 4 p.m. as Jewish students gathered outside the Dar Al-imar -- House of Faith -- mosque on 10 1/2 Street.
"We've always enjoyed people coming to the mosque -- we're pretty open," fourth-year Commerce student and MSA president Zeenat Iqbal said. Friday "there was a pride, that we have visitors today."
Muslim students helped the female Jewish students cover their hair with scarves, then led them, barefoot, through the women's entrance into the mosque, where the men already had lined up on taped lines on the floor to begin their prayers.
"It was a Kodak moment," Iqbal said. "One of the other girls and I were standing outside, helping the Jewish students put their scarves on, and she said, 'I need to take a picture.'"
After prayers, a Muslim student gave a presentation he called "Islam 101," outlining the basic precepts of the faith. Heads bobbed in recognition at the names of prophets, books and even words common to both religions.
Afterward, the students broke into two groups for discussion. To begin, everyone gave themselves a mark on a continuum of whether they identified themselves as more American or more a member of their faith.
The discussion, which centered on the experience of being a religious minority in America, uncovered many similarities.
"It was interesting to talk about what it's like to be a religious minority,and how it works with this desire to have friends that are the same as you but also different from you, and how you balance that out," said second-year College student Rebecca Klimpl, who is student president of Hillel.
Other questions centered on the most common misperceptions about each faith.
Iqbal said she was impressed with how much the groups of students had in common.
"We were laughing about each other -- we were all on the same wavelength," Iqbal said. "It wasn't surprising, but it's like when you make a new friend and you think, 'Wow, she's really cool.'"
At 6 p.m. the group hurried over to the Hillel Center, where the Jewish students gave a quick presentation on their faith.
The Jewish services began with song of call to worship. Everyone then gathered in the foyer to light candles to welcome Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath.
Iqbal participated in the candle-lighting.
"I wanted to participate a little bit -- it was symbolic, showing willingness to understand and reach out to another faith," Iqbal said.
The students then split into three services -- one orthodox, one conservative and one reformed. The Muslim students split up to attend one of the three.
"I was sitting in the traditional service, which was entirely in Hebrew, and it had a similar effect on me as listening to Arabic," Iqbal said. "It's Scripture, the word of God, traditional language that made me feel comfortable seeing the tradition in motion."
Klimpl said she found the experience equally powerful.
"The opening song especially was very meaningful," Klimpl said. "It was awesome that we were both singing the same message of peace."
At 6:50 p.m., time for Islamic evening prayers, the Muslim students rose and went outside to pray together.
Following the services, both groups sat down to dinner together. The meal, cooked by Hillel, was kosher, which meant that it also satisfied the requirements of halal, the Islamic dietary restrictions. Grape juice was substituted for the traditional kiddish wine.
As the meal began, Klimpl and Zeenat Kolia, second-year College student and MSA member, broke challah, or bread, together.
The evening ended with spontaneous dancing among the students who had eaten outside.
"Some of us broke into dancing," said first-year College student Abby Bellows, Hillel's vice president for religious programming. "It was very natural."
Klimpl, who was involved with planning the event, said it went better than she could have hoped.
Klimpl and Kolia, who have been friends since eighth grade, had been discussing a Muslim-Jewish event for a while. They were considering planning an open discussion between Muslim and Jewish students when they were contacted by the Student Council religious affairs committee.
The committee was interested in helping Hillel and MSA plan an event in which the Jewish students went to the mosque and the Muslim students went to Hillel.
"We combined the two ideas, which worked out really well," Klimpl said.
Klimpl, who named the event "Open Doors," also worked with Kolia to develop the discussion questions.
"We have always had discussions like this," Klimpl said. "We basically brainstormed together to think of stuff we thought would be interesting for people to talk about."
Klimpl said Jewish student reaction to the event was positive.
"As I was saying to another student, services are going to be really lonely this Friday," Klimpl said. "Sometimes, people will come to observe services and it seems almost awkward, but [Friday] it seemed very natural for us to be at either place. It seemed very comfortable."
Bellows echoed that reaction.
"It was one of the most memorable Shabbats we've had," she said. "That's a sentiment a lot of people have articulated."
Iqbal said she hopes Hillel and the MSA will continue to pursue their new relationship.
"It's a very important thing for us to have done," Iqbal said. "Especially considering everything that's going on in the Middle East, if we can't talk to each other, how are we going to solve any of our problems? There are a lot of miscommunications, misunderstandings and myths we have about each other. It's important to know about people who are so integral to who we are."
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