Visiting Al-Farooq Islamic Center - Essay Example

Visit to Al-Farooq Islamic Center Section of Site Visit The Al-Farooq Islamic Center is located in Nashville city. To get to this mosque from Nashville downtown, you take the 4th avenue and move straight you sight the mosque. When coming from I-40 E and W exit, the Masjid will be less than or close to half a mile and you will have to take southern direction on the 4thAvenue. The general address of Al-Farooq Center; Al-Farooq Islamic Center 1421 4th Ave South Nashville,Tn 37210, Nashville, TN 37210, USA Al-Farooq Islamic Center is an Islamic center, whose purpose is to create and provide an environment conducive to the Islamic community by offering a place for them to make their prayers each and every day, a place for memorization of the Quran, to provide education about Islam and to organize events such as Eid celebrations. My visit to this mosque was on a Friday. I prepared myself and arrived at about 11.00 a.m. Since I was new, I sorted to get some directions on what is required of me while in the mosque. So I went straight to the offices and I was welcomed warmly by the occupants who were in the office. Mr. Abdul, who introduced himself as a teacher for weekend Islam classes took the pleasure to show me around the mosque and to teach me the basic about Islam. Below is the conversation that followed between me and Mr. Abdul. Abdul: Welcome again. Me: Thank you Abdul: I am very pleased to have you here today. First and foremost, I will start with the basic things that you need to know about this religion. Islam is built on five pillars. The first one is Shahadah, where a believer expresses his commitment and acceptance of Islam. The shahadah is "There is no God but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God." Me: So if I confess that there is no God to be worshipped I am a Muslim? Abdul: And Prophet Muhammad is his Messenger. And you also go by the next pillars. The second pillar is prayer, commonly known as Salah in Islam. In prayer, a person communicates directly with God. A person is supposed to pray five times in a day and the prayers must be conducted while you are facing Mecca. Me: Why do you face Mecca? Abdul: Because is the holiest city in Islam and also God instructed the Prophet Muhammad to pray while facing Qibla which is in Mecca. All Muslims in the world prays while facing Qibla. The third pillar is Zakat which means alms-giving or offering Muslims give to the needy. The fourth pillar is to fast during the holy month of Ramadan, known as Sawm in Islam. The fifth pillar is visiting Mecca for pilgrimage. In Islam it is called Hajj. Me: Thank you for that information. Will please tell me more about the structure of the mosque? Abdul: Okay, the mosque or Masjid is the prayer house. It is a holy place and before entering, one must remove his or her shoes, clean him or herself with water. This act of cleaning is called tawadhah. The mosque is divided into two parts from inside. Men sit on one side and women sit on another side. Islam does not permit mingling of the opposite sexes during prayer. Me: Mmmmh, and what is that slim tower that I see rising there above the mosque? Abdul: Ohh that is called minaret. Minarets may be of different sizes heights and shapes and were used originally as points to make adhan, which is calling people for pray. Me: Thanks, and today am seeing a lot of people coming in large numbers, why? Abdul:Today is a Friday, which is the congregational worship day for all Muslims in all parts of the world. As you can see, most people coming in are decently dressed. When coming for this Friday prayer, it is a mandatory for everybody to be clean. Me: And I’ve seen most women dressed in a certain way. Is there any specific dressing code for Muslims? Abdul:ohh yes. There is. It is a mandatory for all women that they cover their entire body but not the face and hands. They should put on jilbab which is a cloth that covers their entire body. They should not wear transparent and tight fitting clothes. Me: thank you. That what about men? Is there any specific dressing code for man? Abdul: Yes, all men arerequired cover their awrahwhen they are with any unrelated woman. Men’s awrah starts from the navel and goes down to the knees. Men are not supposed to put on silk or gold or any kind of clothing that is effeminate. The lower garment of men should be above their ankles. Me: thank you, and can I join you for prayer or my dressing is not appropriate? Abdul: It will be nice, come and see how we Muslims do pray. Since you will be close to me, you will be following everything that I do. Let us go in because the Friday mass is about to start. (I followed him as he led the way to the mosque.) Section 2: Personal Reflection Mr. Abdul was very glad to have me as a visitor in the masjid. After the prayer, he kept asking me to come again and again. He said he wanted to enlighten people about Islam as the best religion that advocates for peace and cohesiveness among people of different cultures and believes. Throughout my conversations with him, he kept smiling to every question I asked and he answered each question well providing best explanations that were helpful. He took me to different religious books such as books of hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the holy Quran. He also talked about the issue of Jihad, the holy war. There are many things that Mr. Abdul loved about his religion. Peace, as he kept saying was one he loved about Islam. He said most verses in the holy Quran talked about peace. He even went ahead and quoted the verse in the Holy Quran that promotes peace. “They hear therein no idle or sinful talk-but only the saying Peace! Peace!”(Azizand Muhammad 673) Abdul went on and looked up hadith about Prophet Muhammad that promoted peace. “The prophet promoted peace and used many words that can only be translated in one word”(Bangura 2). According to Mr. Abdul, the Prothet Muhammad promoted cohesion with people of other religions. Abdul showed me another verse that said, “Ultimately, in the 6th year of Hijra, the prophet of Islam finalized the Hudaybiya peace treaty between the believers and unbelievers.”(Khan 153) Abdul wanted me to know that those groups killing innocent people saying it is Jihad, are going against the teaching of Islam. He went ahead and provided this verse for me, “Now the demand of the sunnah of the Prophet is to put such confrontation to an end unilaterally, and engage all our efforts in the positive construction of Islam and Muslims.”(Khan154) It is clear that Mr. Abdul loved Islam because it is a religion that promoted peace in all aspects its interaction. The Friday prayer service at the Al-Farooq Islamic Center was a memorable experience for me. There are many reasons why I liked the Muslim style of prayer. First, it took about 45 minutes. The first about half an hour is the time when Imam, who is the religious leader, gives sermons in terms of teachings from the holy Quran. The Quran was read in Arabic and then translated and explained in English. Everybody was seated on the floor, which was neatly covered by nice prayer rugs. During prayer times, everybody stood in a straight line facing Qubla. Then when the Imam gives a command, every person followed in the command and moved with that order. I liked the prayer because of the unity among believers. The prayers also offered each individual moment to communicate with God. However, I happened not to issue of sitting down on the mats. Islam has many similarities to my religion, Christianity. To begin with, both religions advocate for peace and cohesiveness among members of different religions. In the bible during the teachings of Jesus the, commonly known as beatitudes he said, “Blessed are the peacemakers; they shall be called the children of God.”(Holmes 60) In Islam, the Holy Quran talks about promoting peace.“They hear therein no idle or sinful talk-but only the saying Peace! Peace!”(Aziz and Muhammad 673). In both Christianity and Islam, the sermons are usually conducted by referencing to Holy Religious books that believers believe that they were sent by God for their Guidance. We Christians use the Holy Bible while Muslims use the Holy Quran. Islam also recognizes Jesus as a prophet of God and that he had powers to do miracles from God. We Christians also know that Jesus did a lot of miracles in the Bible. According to Porter these are some of the miracles of Jesus, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” Act 3.6 which recalls the words with which Jesus healed the cripple (Matt 9.6; Mark 2.11; Luke5.24; John 5.8) and raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead. (Mark 5.41, Luke 8.54)” (179) Therefore, from my visit to Al-Farooq Islamic Center, I was able to realize that Islam and Christianity have some similarities. There are also some differences that were exhibited between Islam and Christianity. The first difference is the dressing style. Christianity does not stipulate a certain dressing code for men and women the way Islam is. Islam is very strict about the dressing codes, especially when going to the mosque and women should cover almost all parts of their body but the face and their hands should be exposed. The second difference is the sitting position when in the mosque and church. In the church there are intermingling and women and men sit together while worshipping God. In the mosque, men and women sit on separate places and don’t even see each other. The third difference is that Islam prayer is a very calm prayer with no singing and dancing while in Christianity, there is singing and dancing as they praise and worship. In conclusion am glad to have visited the Al-Farooq Islamic Center because I was able to learn lots of things about Islam that I had not known. I learned that Islam is a peaceful and not a violent religion as most people perceive it. I was able to realize that the terrorist groups killing people in the name of Jihad are against Islam teachings and other teachings of Prophet Muhammad. I feel motivated for having visited the Al-Farooq Islamic Center. Works Cited Aziz, Zahid, and Muhammad Ali. English Translation of the Holy Quran: With Explanatory Notes : from the English Translation and Commentary of Maulana Muhammad Ali. Wembley: AhmadiyyaAnjuman Lahore, 2011. Print. Bangura, Abdul K. The Holy Quran and Contemporary Issues. New York: iUniverse, 2003. Print Holmes, Stephen M. The Fathers on the Sunday Gospels. Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Press, 2012. Print. Khan, Wahiduddin. The Prophet Muhammad: A Simple Guide to His Life. New Delhi: Goodword, 2002. Print Porter, J R. The Illustrated Guide to the Bible. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print. Read More