My Visit

 

 

Ryan Vincent
5/13/03

Mosque Visit: The Loss of Ignorance

While taking Dr. Cahill’s Discovering Islam class, I had the opportunity to visit a mosque. At first, my apprehension made me reluctant to go. I was nervous about being surrounded in an Islamic environment with complete strangers of a different faith, especially a faith often categorized with radicalism. However, these worries quickly dissipated upon my arrival.

I met with Asad Ashran, a Loyola graduate, who was very gracious and accepting of my request to visit the Masjid Al-Tawbah mosque located across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. Since we had both arrived early, I was able to examine the exterior of the mosque. At first glance, the building appears to be an office building. The simplistic design seemed to reflect the humility of these people, as I would soon discover (1).

The Muslim Academy is next door to the mosque. It is a Muslim school designated for children at levels from kindergarten through sixth grade. Besides the regular curriculum for children at this age, they are taught Islam and the Arabic language.

The best way to explain my experience at the mosque would be a chronology of events. Asad and I were talking outside waiting for the prayer service to begin. He explained to me that I would witness the Isha prayer. This is the fifth and final prayer of the day to complete the Salat. Until this time, I did not realize that the Salat was structured.

Many other members of this community were also socializing outside before the prayer service. The first words of Arabic that I heard came from a man standing outside of the doorway. He was calling everyone to prayer. As we all walked towards the mosque, I could not help but to notice the beauty in his words. I was as if he were singing an ancient tune (2).

Upon entering the mosque, Asad motioned for me to take off my shoes. I quickly realized that we were in a wash room. This room was equipped with plumbing and washing stations unlike any I had ever seen. Asad noted that they were supposed to clean themselves before prayer as a sign of respect to Allah. This process includes cleaning the arms, feet, face, nostrils, and mouth. This is usually done three times to ensure cleanliness (3).

We then entered the only other common are room in the Mosque. This room was incredibly simplistic, as if they had just opened the mosque yesterday. I come from a Catholic background, which seems like the complete opposite of Islam. No pictures or statues could be found anywhere in the room. I later learned that this would be against Islam because it borders on idolatry.

A wall that reached up to a few feet from the ceiling also divided the room. Asad informed me that women were separated from men often in the Muslim community. The prayer service is also a physical prayer that involves kneeling and crouching surrounded by other members. Women are separated from the men in order to diminish distractions and keep the same levels of humility and concentration. I later learned that women and men are kept separated most of the time as a prevention mechanism. Therefore, they will not be led into unhealthy temptations.

The next notable feature of this room is that everything is directed to the northeast corner of the room. This is the direction of Mecca, where all Muslims face to pray. The floor even has lines across the carpet that were parallel to Mecca (4). These lines are used to help this them organize themselves in a formation facing Mecca.

At this time, I noticed several members already lined up in the room praying. Asad informed me that everyone performs an individual prayer before the service begins, as well as one after the prayer service (5). I positioned myself in the back of the room so that I could observe the activities from an outside perspective.

By now most of the men had lined themselves ready for prayer. I noticed that most of the elders positioned themselves upfront, while the children were towards the back. Even the young adults and adolescents were occupying the middle of the group. I am not sure if this is done out of general respect or simply one of the guidelines (6).

The members were casually conversing and even joking after they had performed their individual prayers. The atmosphere was most pleasant, and I found myself wishing that I knew them as friends. They certainly made me feel as if I was a friend. I obviously looked like an “outsider” in the back of the room; however, many of the men went out of their way to introduce themselves and welcome me. My apprehensions quickly eroded, as I felt increasingly comfortable. Incidentally, I was humored to catch the children taking inquisitive peeks in my direction. I communicated with them by using the universal language of smiles and nods in order to make them more comfortable with my presence. I wanted everyone to understand that I was there as a friend, and not an ignorant stereotyper.

The Imam was the next person to enter. He was dressed in a white garment and grew a large beard. I approximated this age to be only about thirty years. The Imam is the leader of the prayer service, who is appointed by the community. He is chosen by picking the most knowledgeable person in the area of Islam.

As the Imam started the prayers, the attitudes in the room shifted to a serious attitude encased by devotion. The entire prayer service lasted about thirty minutes. It consisted of four prayers. The entire prayer service was spoken in Arabic. The Imam spoke almost constantly, while the other members repeated some of the parts. Since I am not familiar with Arabic, I could not easily distinguish the four parts. I believed them to be separated by the Sajda, which is a process of going from a standing position to a kneeling, then crouching position while bowing the entire body towards Mecca. Asad later explained that this is a way to show humility before Allah (7).

The Imam led their worship in Arabic, which was one of my favorite experiences of the night. His voice was very powerful, yet soothing at the same time. His vocals expelled beautiful and almost hypnotic sounds that clearly aid in the concentration of the others in the room.

After the prayer service, each person finished with their own individual prayer. I could not help to notice that many of the people seemed happy and proud of themselves after the service. The atmosphere quickly turned back to a relaxed setting. Asad noted that usually a Hadith is read and explained after the Isha prayer. However, tonight would be a little different. After just a few moments, Dr. Sarmini led an open floor discussion (8). Dr. Sarmini had introduced himself to me earlier as another leader in the community. This discussion began with the topic of the problems that the men face in society after September 11, 2001. Many misconceptions and stereotypes haunt them. Their mission should be to prove these ideas to be false. Dr. Sarmini explained to them that the most important thing they could do was to “be the best Muslim that they could be”.

Dr. Sarmini emphasized that terrorism must be distinguished between religion and individuals. It is not fair to force all Muslims into a negative group just because of some black sheep. He pointed out that Islam in not the only religion that has had violence in the name of the religion. For example, he noted the Christian Crusades were in the name of Christianity (9). Dr. Sarmini explained a few reasons why Islam is a practical religion, and not one that promotes violence. First, Islam endorses the sanctity of life. To hurt one is to hurt all. Second, each person is responsible for their own mistakes. This accountability is paramount to their covenant with Allah.

The next topic was on the war with Iraq. I was surprised to hear anger and distrust directed towards the United States government. It is interesting to hear the viewpoints from people who are directly affected from actions in that part of the world. However, it is important to note that many of them are in this country through visas. They respect the laws of the government that allows them to live here just as they respect their covenant with Allah. They cannot adhere to Allah’s covenant unless they respect human agreements first. This would be hypocritical.

The last topic was on the foreign policy of the United States, which has given support to Israel. Unfortunately, I am not knowledgeable in this area. However, I felt sympathy towards the well-formulated arguments.

After the discussion, Dr. Sarmini and Asad talked with me for a while to answer my questions and inform me of important facts. One of the questions that I had was whether Islam was as aggressive of a religion as it seemed to be in the past. They explained to me that Muslims only use force if necessary, and they would never make war to change the faith of others or for material gain. After spending time with these great people, this certainly appeared to be nothing more than perfectly accurate.

My visit to the Masjid Al-Tawbah mosque was a great experience, and I would encourage others to familiarize themselves with these beautiful people. I was made to feel completely welcome during this visit. My apprehensive attitude was a product of fear and ignorance prior to this visit. Now I feel completely different after my experience. Hopefully, this description of my visit will help others to understand Muslims as fine people, and not to be cast out in negative stereotypes that accomplish nothing but pain (10).

NOTES FROM MAHMOUD SARMINI, M.D.:
1. The building was in fact an office building, changed into a mosque about 10 years ago. The only place in town so far built from the ground up as a mosque in New Orleans is Masjid Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq in Metairie. Traditional minarets & domes you may see in pictures are not mandatory. Minarets were historically used to help the person doing Azan convey his voice further.
2. This chanting was the ‘Azan’, the call to prayer: an announcement that the congregational prayer is about to begin. Many repetitions of ‘Allahu Akbar’ conveys the meaning that Allah is greater (Akbar) than your business, family, worldly distractions.
3. This action is called ‘Wudu’, or ablution. Islam is a nice balance between the physical & spiritual. While ‘Salat’ epitomizes the spiritual cleanness, the preceding ablution is mandatory act of physical cleanness. It has numerous health benefits.
4. It is difficult to visualize lines being parallel to a city (Mecca); it may be clearer to say that the floor has parallel lines that are facing Mecca.
5. This prayer is called the ‘Sunnah’ prayer: an optional set of prayers that can be performed before or after the ‘Fard’ or obligatory prayer.
6. It is in fact religiously recommended to line up first the men, then the children: they can be distractible & distracting during prayer. It is not obligatory: some parents keep their kids on their sides for more supervision.
7. In Islam, humbling oneself to God is a very essential experiential way of acknowledging his Lordship: it is an act of lowering your most respectful part, your forehead (technically speaking, your frontal lobe, the locations of thoughts & emotions) to your creator. If I may divert a little, this is the way Jesus (Peace Be Upon Him) prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.
8. It may be fair to explain the context of this discussion: at the request of the Imam, I was sharing with the congregation a summary of my on-the-air interview and phone questions with Sammy Schwartz from WTIX 690 AM the night before.
9. We also mentioned a more sinister example: the Inquisition in Spain, where Muslims (and Jews) were tortured, and where Islam was completely wiped up from Andalusia (old Spain) within 100 years.
10. I applaud your point. Ignorance is at the root of fear & hatred.