{"id":1435,"date":"2017-07-03T14:49:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T19:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/?p=1435"},"modified":"2017-07-03T14:59:42","modified_gmt":"2017-07-03T19:59:42","slug":"america-wedding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/america-wedding\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beauty of America and Islam at a Wedding in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photo by Reem Abdelhafez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On July 2, my wife and were blessed to witness a truly extraordinary event: the wedding of our friends’ children. While the venue was beautiful, and the hall packed with numerous dear friends, that’s not what made it extraordinary.<\/p>\n

The parents of the bride were Americans of Mexican and Indian descent. The parents of the groom were Americans of Syrian and European descent. As we walked into the beautifully laid out landscape for the ceremony, a Mexican Mariachi band serenaded us.<\/p>\n

The attendees were immigrants and American-born. They were native Arabic, Urdu, and English speakers. Their ancestries hailed from all over the world. They were Muslim, and they were Christian. And they all came together to witness a Muslim wedding ceremony.<\/p>\n

The ceremony itself was a thing of beauty. Two young people exchanging vows of love and making promises of commitment. The sermon, conducted by an African-American Imam, talked about the love and mercy, from the Heavens above, that God places between husband and wife. And the ceremony finished just in time before the pouring rain came down.<\/p>\n

But that rain also brought a beautiful rainbow, a perfect finish to a perfect Islamic wedding ceremony and a sign of Divine pleasure. After dinner and prayer came the speeches by the father of the bride and the father of the groom. They were both heartfelt and heartwarming. The emotion was palpable, and it was an honor for my wife and I to be among the hundreds who got to listen to those beautiful words of peace, love, and friendship.<\/p>\n

And no wedding is complete without music and dancing, and we were all pleasantly surprised by an Arab music group performing live “Dabke” music. I joined in with the group, jumping and stomping my feet, and shared in the joy of all who were there. The wedding was truly one of the best I have attended in a very long time.<\/p>\n

As we celebrate our nation’s independence, it is natural to reflect over what our nation is, who our people are, and what kind of nation we want to be. There are some who are trying to define our nation narrowly, in terms of ethnic and religious make up.<\/p>\n

Yet what I witnessed on July 2, in the far Southern suburbs of Chicago, is the truth about America: e pluribus unum<\/i>, “out of many, one.” While we differed in skin tone and language, heritage and religion, we all came together as one – during a holiday weekend – to celebrate the marriage of two young American Muslims, who are embarking on a new journey of life together.<\/p>\n

That is what makes America already great. That is what America always has been. That America is the one towards which we should always be striving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The beautiful diversity of the American Muslim wedding I attended showed the beauty that is America today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[130,827,11,120,850],"class_list":["post-1435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-common-word","tag-america","tag-diversity","tag-islam","tag-july-4","tag-wedding"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Beauty of America and Islam at a Wedding in Chicago - Common Word, Common Lord<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/america-wedding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Beauty of America and Islam at a Wedding in Chicago - Common Word, Common Lord\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The beautiful diversity of the American Muslim wedding I attended showed the beauty that is America today.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/america-wedding\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Word, Common Lord\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-03T19:49:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-03T19:59:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/files\/2017\/07\/img_4653.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hesham A. Hassaballa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GodFaithPen\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Beauty of America and Islam at a Wedding in Chicago - Common Word, Common Lord","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/america-wedding\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Beauty of America and Islam at a Wedding in Chicago - Common Word, Common Lord","og_description":"The beautiful diversity of the American Muslim wedding I attended showed the beauty that is America today.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/america-wedding\/","og_site_name":"Common Word, Common Lord","article_published_time":"2017-07-03T19:49:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-07-03T19:59:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/files\/2017\/07\/img_4653.jpg"}],"author":"Hesham A. 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Hassaballa","description":"Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago doctor and writer. He has written extensively on a freelance basis, being published in newspapers across the country and around the world. He has been a Beliefnet columnist since 2001, and has written for the Religion News Service. He is also a columnist for Patheos. His articles have been distributed worldwide by Agence Global, and he was also a guest blogger for The Chicago Tribune and has blogged on ChicagoNow\" . In addition, Dr. Hassaballa has appeared as a guest on WTTW (Channel 11) in Chicago, CNN, Fox News, BBC, and National Public Radio. Dr. Hassaballa is co-author of The Beliefnet Guide to Islam (Doubleday), and his essay, \u201cWhy I Love the Ten Commandments,\u201d was published in the award-winning book Taking Back Islam (Rodale). His latest book, Noble Brother, is the story of the Prophet Muhammad told entirely in poetry, and it is now published in its second edition. In 2007, his blog \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" was nominated for a Brass Crescent Award for a blog that is \u201cthe most stimulating, insightful, and philosophical, providing the best rebuttals to extremist ideology and making an impact whenever they post.\u201d \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" has also received an award for being one of the \"Top Muslim Blogs for 2010\" by Awarding The Web. In addition to writing, Dr. Hassaballa helped found the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and currently serves on their board of directors. He also co-founded the Bayan H. 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