Re: Questions about Islam (Ask Away!)
Oh, that must have been the Friday prayer! (think of it as Sunday, when Christians go to Church)
First, remember that I live in a country who's official language is Arabic, so all the speech is in Arabic over here. However, when I went abroad I noticed they do what you just described in the mosque I prayed at. First they give the speech in Arabic, and then they repeat it in the native language of the country. However, when I sometimes look up speeches online, I find lots of them are just in English, since that's the language everyone in the audience would understand.
The point of the speech is to deliver a message to the audience, so it's crucial to use a language everyone would understand. Assuming everyone can speak Arabic, when you live in a non Arab country is a huge mistake.
Of course it's important for Muslims to learn Arabic because it helps understanding the religion and the Qur'an, but for the very least you need to understand some short passages or else you wouldn't be able to do your daily Salah, (prayer).
The Friday prayer is an obligation for men to attend, while it is optional for women. Because of that, the number of men is always much higher than the number of women. However, here's what I think is going on over there.
It must be much harder over there to be able to build mosques and make them as spacious as you would want. So I'm assuming they get packed by Muslim men, and they end up neglecting the women's section, unfortunately, because their number is usually fewer. I've heard this complaint a lot from over there.
I'd go there again when it isn't Friday at noon. Because that's the busiest time of the week. Even over here, when I go late to the mosque I end up praying outside on the street, because the mosques are filled. I have to take a rug with me or else I pray on the concrete.
Originally posted by Raphaeline
View Post
The imam gave a speech entirely in Arabic, and then repeated it (I think, because obviously I didn't understand the first half, but that's the impression I got), but the second half contained probably around 40% Arabic, too (usually involving quotes from the Qu'ran). Is speaking at least SOME Arabic considered obligatory?
The point of the speech is to deliver a message to the audience, so it's crucial to use a language everyone would understand. Assuming everyone can speak Arabic, when you live in a non Arab country is a huge mistake.
Of course it's important for Muslims to learn Arabic because it helps understanding the religion and the Qur'an, but for the very least you need to understand some short passages or else you wouldn't be able to do your daily Salah, (prayer).
Secondly, my friend and I were the only females in the building with the exception of about six young girls and five other women, but there were about a hundred men there. Did we happen to come on a day with some special significance for men? I wondered if maybe there was a separate service for the women because the five praying women stayed not just in the back of the room but instead were in a hallway off to the side (facing the glowing EXIT sign in the dark, which seemed awfully lonely compared to the grand open room the men were in... I was surprised that they chose to be so separate)...
Why might there be so few women present?
Why might there be so few women present?
It must be much harder over there to be able to build mosques and make them as spacious as you would want. So I'm assuming they get packed by Muslim men, and they end up neglecting the women's section, unfortunately, because their number is usually fewer. I've heard this complaint a lot from over there.
I'd go there again when it isn't Friday at noon. Because that's the busiest time of the week. Even over here, when I go late to the mosque I end up praying outside on the street, because the mosques are filled. I have to take a rug with me or else I pray on the concrete.
Comment