The Mosque
While visiting the mosque on Friday, March 5th, at 12:00, I experienced an
great and almost uncomfortable difference in religion. Although many of the traditions
are much like my own, Christianity, the ways in which they pray, live their lives, and even dress are much different than my own.
Prior to going to this ceremony, a classmate and I called one of the members of the church to get information mainly about what we were to wear. Rativ, the church member, informed us to wear our clothes very baggy so that we wouldn't show our bodies. We followed these guidelines, but when we got there we realized that we were supposed to also wear a head cover.
As we were approaching the room, we were stopped by a woman who would be telling us about their religion. Before we could go into the room, we had to take our shoes off and then walk in and sit on the floor. She then handed us a few papers, that are enclosed, that would guide us through the ceremony. After doing that, she then approached the front of the room and began her prayer to Allah, which was a type of welcome.
At the beginning of the worship there was a song that was sung by Iman, sort of a priest, he would be speaking of the whole ceremony as well. I did not understand any of these words but in observing the other woman in the room and their reactions to this song it was almost like they were in a trance. This caught me a little off guard and made me feel a little uncomfortable, not knowing what I was suppose to do.
When the song was finished the actual preaching began, which to my surprise
only lasted about 15 minutes, very different from my own experiences. After the
preaching was done the woman all went up to the front of the room again facing a
particular way, NE to face Mecca, with their arms barely touching each other. My
classmates and I joined in on this prayer. It was almost like a routine, you were first
stand...