The National Cathedral held its first service ever to honor a Muslim, School of International Service professor Akbar Ahmed, on Sunday afternoon.
Senior Rabbi Bruce Lustig joined Ahmed and Bishop John Chane by reading a passage from Hebrew scripture and speaking about the work that Ahmed has done.
"The voice of Akbar Ahmed is the voice of Islam. It is calm ... gentle, it is filled with wisdom and with truth," said Lustig, of the Washington Hebrew Congregation. "Where others build walls of fear, he chooses to build bridges of understanding."
Ahmed began his speech by thanking colleagues and the AU community.
"There are others at my University more deserving of this unprecedented honor," Ahmed said. "I hope it will be reciprocated by Muslim leaders."
His sermon expressed the value of interfaith dialogue.
"[Lustig and Chane] are the true voices of dialogue," Ahmed said.
The three men participated in an "Abrahamic Roundtable" gathering of Jews, Muslims and Christians at the National Cathedral College in 2002, where they called for an end to religious ignorance and celebrated the similarities between their faiths.
"Our friendship created the first Abraham summit," Ahmed said. "I saw how close the Judaic and Christian traditions were to my own."
Ahmed also said that the Israeli and Pakistani ambassadors accepted invitations to the ceremony - itself a step toward interfaith communication.
"The world is becoming more aware of shared human decency," Ahmed said. "During the tsunami disaster, people did not ask what is your religion or color or caste before helping."
People came to the event from as far away as Florida and California. In his sermon, Ahmed mentioned Elham Homayounjan, a Jewish woman from Los Angeles, who wrote to him after watching Ahmed on a PBS program. Homayounjan, on vacation in D.C., attended the service.
The service closed with prayers from all three speakers. Chane implored attendees to "continue to pray for peace throughout the global community." Ahmed and Lustig traded lines of a prayer in English and Hebrew as the visiting choir from Saint Paul's Church began singing "Hymn 34."
"We stand before you to claim an important truth," Chane said. "We are brothers on a journey. ... We share the same God."
Guests included diplomats, religious leaders and members of the AU community.
