Religious Service - Term Paper Example

Religious Service The term religious service refers to an act of public worship that follows prescribed doctrines. Many argue that its main purpose is to achieve spiritual growth and draw people closer to God. There are different religious services across the world which an individual may prescribe to. The different categories comprise Christianity, Islamic, Buddhism and paganism, just to mention a few. The existence of these religious services depends on the countries’ laws. This is due to the fact that some countries do not allow certain religious practices. The different religious services possess different characteristics and doctrines that govern how the service is conducted. A case of observation is the name. For Christians, the place of warship is called a church, for Islam a mosque, while for the Buddhist, a temple. It is also evident that the religions have unique symbolic cultures that differentiate them from one another as I observed with Islam when I once attended a religious service. This paper will describe the material and non- material culture of mosque, a place of warship by Muslims. Mosque A mosque is a place of warship for the Muslim faithful. It is evident from my observation of Muslim congregation and the mosque building that the design and building materials used in the construction of the place of worship mostly depends on heritage, culture and the resources in the community that hosts the mosque. However, it is noticeable that there are certain architectural features common to all mosques. For instance, the mosque’s parts are practical and show a sense of tradition and continuity among all the Muslims across the globe (Penney 10). Common architectural features include a minaret which is a slender tower rising at the top of a mosque (Penney 12). The minaret usually varies in height, number and style. It may be square, octagonal, or round in shape and are in most cases covered with a pointed roof as noted by Penney (12). In the case of the mosque I attended, I was able to observe that it had a tall, slender and round-shaped minaret (Penney 14). On the minaret, there is a loud speaker used to sermon people to prayers commonly called adhan (Hephaestus Books 14). The mosque is divided into two sections in which, men and women attend the service in different rooms. However, the services are conducted with the leadership of an Imam who is stationed on men’s side. The dress code is usually a veil gown mostly white in color for men and black for women. Every member of the congregation is required to remove the shoes before entering the mosque and put on the shoe shelf. This is mainly to preserve the cleanliness of the mosque and a sign of humility to God. The shelf is placed near the door to prevent pilling of shoes at the door. This also ensures that visitors neatly arrange their shoes for ease of availability after the end of the service (Penney 16). The mosque prayer hall is a large and open space (musalla) which is quite unique. The place is left bare with no furniture needed in this place. This is due to the fact that worshipers usually keep sitting, kneeling, and bowing on the floor under the command of the Imam. However, the mosque has few chairs which according to my observation are meant for the disabled and the elderly who may find it difficult to keep up with high mobility, a characteristic of the service. Along the pillars and walls of the mosque are bookshelves which hold Qur’an, some religious reading materials, prayer rags and rihal (wooden book stand) (Hephaestus Books 16). During the prayers, Muslim worshipers bow, kneel and usually prostate on the ground as a sign of humility before Allah (God). Islam usually requires that a prayer be performed in a clean environment. To ensure that this is adhered to, there are carpets and rugs laid on the floor to cushion the floor from dirt (Penney 16). The small rags inside the mosque are mainly stacked on the shelf and are meant for individual use. The rags are about one meter in length and are made of cotton or silk. Some are made of solid colors and are adorned (Hephaestus Books 14). They are also geometric, arabesque, and floral or show Islamic landmarks usually Ka’aba in Mecca or the Al-Aqsa based in Jerusalem as noticed by Hephaestus Books (14). The rugs are designed in a manner that they have a definite bottom and top. Here, it is the bottom where worshiper’s stands with the top positioned towards the prayer’s direction. Immediately after the service, worshipers fold the rug and put it away for the next service (Esposito23). The mosque is decorated with a mihrab which is an ornamental indentation fixed on the wall. I realized that the mihrab marks direction of qiblah. Mihrab is very unique and varies in color and size. It has a doorway shape and decorated with calligraphy and tile usually to make it dominant (Hephaestus Books 15). The prayer service among the Muslim faithful is scheduled in a generous manner during which they meditate. The Muslims usually perform five formal prayers on a daily basis with the main service conducted on Fridays of every week (Esposito 35). The meditation period include dawn, sunrise, noon hours, afternoon, and at night. The five prayers are scheduled with breaks in between to give worshipers a time to seek Allah’s guidance and as a way of remembering Allah’s blessings. In case a worshiper misses a prayer, the common practice among the Muslim is that they usually organize for a make-up soonest possible. This is usually referred to qadaa`. For instance in case a worshiper misses an afternoon prayer session may due to work commitment, an individual is expected to pray soonest possible when work schedule is over. If the subsequent prayer time has come, one is usually expected to perform the missed prayer first and then proceed with the on-going prayer. I noticed that according to Muslim faith, it is considered a sin to miss prayers regularly without good reason. However, there is always room for repentance (Esposito 29). The Muslim prayers are conducted in accordance with the holly Qur’an. According to the Holy Qur’an, prayers help human beings in refining their spirits and draw them to harmony with God. Islam also accepts both individual and congregational prayer (Schulte-Peevers 41). The congregational worshiping is uniquely organized and meaningful. The service is led by one leader who leads the service in all the prayers for men and women (Esposito 25). In this case, the leader is not an ordained priest, instead anybody whom the congregation considers worthy to lead the prayers is chosen as Imam. The service is admonished to be displayed behind the Imam in straight line with each worshiper standing close to each other usually shoulder to shoulder leaving no space between the worshipers. Worshipers follow Imam very keenly in everything he does. When Imam bows down, the congregation also does the same. When he stands, they also do so. As he prostrates, the congregation does the same (Schulte-Peevers 44). It is very funny to note that this is followed even if the Imam does a mistake. He does not correct this even after a reminder as all followers must imitate the same. Questioning an Imam during prayers is not tolerated (Esposito 25). Muslims do not sing in the mosque, instead they recite verses of the Holy Qur’an. In this case, there is a routine recitation of verses of the Holy Qur’an and other prayers usually done in the language of the Qur’an. In this case, all worshipers are required to know the actual meaning of their recitation; otherwise worshipers would deprive themselves of the many benefits which they would get from the meaning of recitation. Recitation also has a session in which individual worshiper talks to God as he wishes (Esposito 26). In conclusion, there are different religious services across the globe in which public worship are conducted in accordance with the prescribed doctrines. The case is evident with the Muslim faithful that hold their prayers in the mosque. They have a number of symbolic material and non-material cultures that defines their belief and doctrines. Work Cited Esposito, John. What Everyone Needs To Know About Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2011 Print. Hephaestus Books. Mosque Architecture, Including: Dome, Minaret, Quigla, Mihrab, Minbar, Sudano-Sahelian, Iwan, Masjid-U-Shajarah, Sahn, Tatar Mosque, Maqsurah, Momin Mosque. New York: Hephaestus. N.d. Penney, William P. Islam. Oxford: Heinemann. 1999. Print. Schulte-Peevers, Andrea. Dubai. Dubai: Lonely Planet. Print. Read More