Mosques as an Integral Part of the Islamic Religion - Report Example

Mini-Ethnography Paper Introduction Mosques are an integral part of the Islamic religion. They serve a similar purpose of temples. Muslims gather inside the mosque usually five times a day to offer their prayers. In Islamic states, a call for prayer is made through the mosque before the actual prayer is conducted. In US, however, considering the diverse group of people living in the vicinity of the mosque, this practice is not followed. In the US, mosques serve the purpose of a gathering center where Muslims pray. Mosques additionally serve the purpose of being learning centers and a place where Muslims congregate ("Islam in USA"). Additionally the mosques also serve as community centers and social halls. Some mosques even allow Muslims to stay during the night if need arises. The mosques are headed by one or more local leaders also known as imams. These imams head the daily prayers and often hold learning program for different groups including the youth, women etc. It is usually on Fridays and Special Muslims holidays such as Eid that mosques receive more than the usual number of people. Attendance is the highest during Eid days when nearly all Muslims congregate and pray inside the Mosques. While traditionally, only men are allowed to pray inside mosques, exception is made in the US where praying in the mosque is usually a family outing. However, there is usually a barrier separating the women from the men. Thus, women and men do not mix within the confines of the mosque. In the US, the number of mosques have been growing at a rapid rate in the last few decades. A survey conducted in 2006 showed that there were 2,106 mosques in American. Also known as masjids, these place are visited by Muslims of different ethnicities including Muslims from Africa, Asia, Europe and Middle Eastern countries. 90 percent of mosques in America are frequented by people from a diverse ethnic background. However, usually one ethnicity dominates the crowd (Hammer and Safi, 110). Despite the growing number of mosques in the USA, there is still a feeling of distrust towards mosques in general. Many people including prominent political leaders claim that mosques are potential supporters of radical Islamist groups including the ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Recently mosques in the US have been faced with a lot of negative criticism (Volsky). At one point in history, after the 9/11 attacks, FBI regularly spied on local mosques in the hopes of catching Al-Qaeda supporters. However, local leaders of the mosques and other Muslim Americans are completely opposed to the idea. They claim that American Muslims are totally against the warped ideologies of extremist Islamic groups. The spying of FBI in mosques has also sparked a level of distrust among the Muslims towards American agenda. However, despite certain prevalent views, mosques are allowed to function without major outside interception mainly because they represent free of expression in the US. Methodology For this research, I went to a local mosque in my area. I was a little unsure of how to approach the people inside since I had very little information on how mosques actually operated. For this, I approached a Muslim friend who informed me that I should try to talk to the masjids imam first. Armed with this knowledge, I approached the imam and informed him about the purpose of my visit. The imam informed me that I was welcome to observe the mosque and its activities but I may not be particularly welcomed given the way masjids had been approached after 9/11. He also informed me that I would not be allowed to participate in certain activities because I was not a Muslim. I thanked him for allowing me to conduct my observations and also requested an interview after my observations. The imam accepted this and paired me with a frequent Muslim visitor of the mosque. Rehan, my companion, showed me around the mosque. I also conducted a small interview with Rehan while he showed me around the mosque. I was allowed to observe two activities inside the mosque- the local Maghrib prayer and one of the lectures conducted by a Muslim scholar, Nouman Ali Khan. In both these activities, I remained a silent observer. I was not allowed to make a video of the mosque for certain religious reasons but I was allowed to make notes of my observations. I visited the mosque for four days. On the fourth and last day, I interview the imam. I asked him both open-ended and close ended questions. Findings My research allowed me to understand a lot about the Muslim community in general. Mosques are considered to be sacred places of worship for the Muslims. When a Muslim enters a mosque, he leaves his shoes outside the mosque. This is mainly done for practical reasons which is to keep the place of worship clean. Also Muslims enter the mosque in a subdued mood. They do not talk and laugh loudly inside the mosque. When a prayer is in progress, talking and laughing is almost forbidden and frowned down upon. Singing is entirely forbidden inside the mosque. The mosque is sparsely decorated. Items placed inside the mosque are kept more for practical reasons rather than decorative ones. The main items inside the mosque inside prayer mats and the Holy book, Quran. Other than this, some painting also decorate the walls of the mosque. These only praise Allah- the Muslim God. Paintings of humans and animals are completely forbidden inside the mosque. The mosque usually remain empty except at the time of the local prayers. Before the local prayers, a small number of crowd gathers around the prayer hall. The prayer hall was divided into two portions through a divider. It was supposed to separate the males from the females. Female attendance in the mosque was quite low. All females who were attending the mosque wore a headscarf that hid their hair. It seemed that most people were previously acquainted. They exchanged greetings in Arabic and usually talked in hushed voices. When the imam makes a call for prayer, the small crowd silently arranges itself on the prayer mats arranged inside the prayer hall. At this time, the only voice that one hears is that of the imam. He recited verses of the Quran and the rest of the crowd recites along with him. The imam also changes his posture and the rest of the crowd imitates his gesture. After the prayer ends, everyone raises their hand to make their prayers. At this point, some people left the prayer hall while other remained to offer more prayers. Most of these people did not talk inside the mosque. This practice is followed five times a day and often the crowd varies according to the time of the day. According to the imam, it is during the last prayer of the day that the mosque receives the highest number of visitors. Apart from this, the Friday afternoon prayer and Eid prayers receive a high number of visitors. The mosque also serves the purpose of a learning center. Many Muslim scholars visit the mosque to give lectures. The timings and date of the lecture is displayed on the notice board near the main entrance of the mosque. These lectures are usually scheduled on weekends as most people are free on weekends. These lectures range from 30 minutes to one hour. The lectures usually center on the translation and teachings of Quran. The purpose of these teachings is to improve belief in Islam. Even here, most of the people did not talk amongst themselves. The lectures seemed like a classroom where the listeners were aptly listening to the speaker. Research Limitations and Future Prospects After I completed my research, I felt that I should have visited more mosques before drawing my conclusion. However, the scope of this research did not include visiting a number of mosques. Also I did not get a chance to talk to any of the mosque visitors. This would have helped me see an outsiders perspective. If I was to expand on this research, I would visit more mosques and draw a comparison between these mosques in order to understand the main purpose and function of mosques. Works Cited Hammer, Juliane and Safi, Omid, The Cambridge Companion to American Islam, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2013 "Islam in USA" Retrieved from http://www.whyislam.org/muslim-world/heritage/islam-in-usa-american-mosques/ Volsky, Igor, Steve King’s Plan To Defeat ISIS: Spy On Muslim Americans In Mosques, Think Press, 2014, Retrieved from http://thinkprogress.org/home/2014/09/13/3567190/muslim-americans-respond-to-steve-kings-suggestion-that-mosques-should-be-spied-on-its-reprehensible/ Read More