Christmas in Egyptian Village Fosters Message of Christian-Muslim Values

A Christian girl named Nijjar, 15, decorates her family home on Coptic Christmas Eve in Cairo, Egypt. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Hajj Zarief, 80, founded his Christmas event on Jan. 2, 1974. “That morning, my uncle had a dream: he saw people from around the world coming into my home and Jesus, inside with a water pail, filling their cups.” In Al-Sherif, Egypt. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Since his uncle’s decades-old dream, Hajj Zarief says, “I’ve asked my friends and neighbors to join me in celebrating the birth of Jesus with Zikr [Islamic dance ritual] and free meals and tea for all.” Al-Sherif, Egypt. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

“For us Muslims, we also love Jesus and respect him as a messenger of God,” says Hajj Zarief, in the farming village of Al-Sherif, Egypt. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Hajj Zarief’s Christmas event also sees Muslim and Christian worshippers from the surrounding villages, with some traveling by donkey or on foot to reach Al-Sherif, Egypt. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Attendees enjoy complimentary tea during Christmas celebrations in Al-Sherif, Egypt. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Ramadan, a 45-year-old farmer, says, “Christians from nearby villages often volunteer with us, making tea and cooking food for the people, before they get busy with their church celebrations.” In Al-Sherif, Egypt. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Muslim worshippers perform “Zikr,” a Sufi dance ritual and spiritual meditation that inspires oneness with God’s love and teachings, in Al-Sherif, Egypt. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Volunteers serve free meals to attendees of Hajj Zarief’s Christmas event in the village of Al-Sherif, Egypt. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)

Sheikhs in attendance spoke of Jesus’s humanity and the recent words of an advisor to Egypt’s Grand Mufti: “Celebrating the birth of Christ is a respite in a new year of high prices, calamities, and inflation.” In Al-Sherif, Egypt. (Hamada Elrasam/VOA)