The Badaliyya Prayer Movement

The Badaliya Prayer Movement

Badaliya is an Arabic word that means to take the place of or substitute for another. It is a spiritual term that lies at the heart of the Christian faith experience and refers to the mystery of the image of God as Jesus sacrificing his life for all of humanity. To be a follower of Christ is to offer oneself out of love for the well-being of others.

Louis Massignon and Mary Kahil established the Badaliya prayer group in Cairo in 1934. At that time Christians in Egypt were increasingly marginalized as Islam became the dominant religion in the region. The Badaliya was a way to open themselves to befriending and praying with and for their Muslim neighbors. It embraced Massignon's own understanding that by learning the language, and experiencing the traditions and culture of those of other religions our own faith life is enhanced.

The Badaliya prayer was a testimony to the universal love of Christ. A Badaliya prayer group formed in Paris that met monthly as well and many individual lay persons and members of religious communities joined this prayer movement.

My first introduction to the Badaliyya Movement was during my stay in Cairo in 19881-82. While living with the great Masters (George Anawati, OP and Jacques Jomier, OP), I got an invitation to join a prayer group that shared views and prayed together every first Friday of the Month. There I discovered the Badaliyya Prayer Movement...

When I returned to the Southern Philippines, I introduced this prayer movement, first with my students in Islamic Studies, then with my co-workers for peace and interreligious dialogue. I had a small booklet introducing the movement. I loaned it to a Columban Missionary, Fr. Rufus, who was killed while he was being kidnapped in the the 90's. He borrowed the booklet, because of his interest to begin a similar prayer group in Malabang - Balabagan areas (Lanao del Sur). It was an attempt to spread the prayer movement specifically addressing the problematic Muslim-Christian relation in Soputhern Philippines.

We have produced a series of short biography of Badals - through meditation on their lives. We meditate on these lives... taking one Badal per meeting before spending an hour before the Blessed Sacrament - standing, seating and kneeling before God's presence. We pray to become badals - the substitutions or ransom for all that are lacking in the Muslim-Christian Relation.

The Badaliyya Prayer Movement has, in many ways, helped in the difficult and dangerous mission when our group got involved in monitoring the implentation of the ceasefire agreement between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. The prayer and the sharing of ideas were keys in keeping ourselves open and respectful of each other - allowing the mystery of God to jolt us from time to time. The prayer sustained, too, the HOPE in our hearts that in God's own time, peace will reign throughout the Southern Philippines!