Muslim Mosque

On August 17, 2013, I finally decided to visit a Muslim mosque. The building is situated by itself on the

corner of a residential neighborhood. As I entered the mosque, I experienced a great

and almost uncomfortable difference in religion. Two Muslim women greeted me at the

door. After explaining my reason for the visit, the two women stated that they would

show me around the mosque and discuss their religion with me.

Before entering the prayer hall, I was instructed to take off my shoes. In the prayer

hall I noticed that there were no seats, only stacks of pillows. This is because Muslims

use prayer mats to sit on the floor and pray. They go through the Rak'ah routine; which

is to stand, bow, kneel, and touch the floor with their forehead. Before praying, they

must be facing toward Mecca.

I did not see any pictures, only Arabic writing on the walls. This is because Muslims

believe you should not make images of God. They do not even consider it right to draw

pictures of the prophet Muhammad so that they remained focused on God (Allah). In

this mosque there was cupboards on the walls with copies of the Qu'ran. Also there

was a minbar (set of steps) for the Imam (leader of the Mosque) to stand on to teach the

people.

I learned that Muslims pray five times a day. Prayer times are fixed by the sun

and change daily. Because people lead busy lives it is the role of the muezzin to make

sure people know when the correct time for prayer is. Each time for prayer has a special

name and each time is separated by two hours. These times are before dawn and

sunrise (Fajr), after midday (Zuhr), between late afternoon and sunset (‘Asr), between

sunset and the end of daylight (Maghrib) and night until dawn