In 2016, Moroccan scholar Ahmed Raissouni did not react to a musical show that included Adhan

On Monday, two Muslim scholars’ unions reacted to a musical performance that featured a call to prayer (Adhan) and Christian and Jewish songs, at the Mohammed VI Institute for the Training of Imams, Morchidines and Morchidates.

The International Union of Muslim Scholars, an organization of Muslim Islamic theologians headed by Moroccan Islamist jurist Ahmed Raissouni, and the Muslim Scholars Association (UMS) slammed the performance, staged by the Moroccan Philharmonic Orchestra and Caroline Casadesus, Smahi El Harati and Francoise Atlan before King Mohammed VI and Pope Francis.

The two Muslim scholars’ associations denounced the fact that the performance in question «mixed between Adhan, one of the greatest rites of Islam, and church music». The two unions disapproved of the show, stressing that it was «surprising and offensive».

«Religions in unison» and the Islamic-Christian version of Ave Maria

However, this is not the first time that the show presented by the trio is performed on stage. In October 2016, the Moroccan Philharmonic Orchestra staged the same show, titled «Religions in unison : Caccini, Ave Maria», before an audience in Casablanca. Muezzin Smahi El Harati participated to the show, reciting the call to prayer before being joined by Caroline Casadesus and Francoise Atlan, two soprano singers.

Their performance was almost identical to the one that took place, Saturday, at the Mohammed VI institute for Imams in Rabat. The only different thing is the fact that the two Muslim scholars’ union did not react to it.

Moreover, negative comments on social media did not target the 2016 performance, as opposed to last week. Surprisingly, social media users commended the message conveyed by the 2016 show and hailed the idea behind it, referring to tolerance, peace and co-existence.

For the record, «Religions in unison : Caccini, Ave Maria» is not the only piece of art that followed the same logic, featuring Adhan and Christian and Jewish rhythms. In 2012, Lebanese artist Tania Kassis performed together with Mahmoud Massaad and Maen Zakaria, the Muslim-Christian version of the Ave Maria de Caccini.