This neighbouring church and mosque in Peshawar have peacefully coexisted for years. Here's how
Twenty-two-year-old Irfan Masih, a resident of Peshawar, is at the city’s historical St Michael Cathedral Church to make arrangements for one of the happiest events of his life — his upcoming wedding. The young man wants to rent the church’s lawn for the ceremony. The news is met with congratulations from the church administrator, but he also lays out one condition for the gleeful groom-to-be. Irfan is told that no music can be played at the ceremony. This is out of respect for the cathedral’s neighbours — a mosque and madrassa known as the Jamia Imdadul Uloom or Darwaish Masjid.
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Irfan tries to reason with the administrator. “This is my first and last marriage,” he says in a lighter tone. He is met with a stern response: “If you agree [only] then will the church permit you to entertain guests in the lawn, otherwise we are sorry.”