Fajr 4.02am, Shorooq (sunrise) 5.19am, Zuhr (noon) 11.30am, Asr (afternoon) 2.58pm, Maghreb (sunset) 5.43pm, Isha (night) 7.13pm.
Many people know Muslims are supposed to pray five times per day, at specific times, and facing in the direction of the holy city Mecca. Here in Dobby, the local papers publish the prayer timings every day, and if you are near a mosque or in a mall or large store you will hear the calls to prayer at midday, twice in the late afternoon, and once in the early evening. Hotel rooms are marked with an arrow in the direction of Mecca, and apparently you can buy compasses that point to Mecca rather than north to assist in proper-prayer alignment.
If you are unlucky, and you did not read the special expat guide to living in Dobby saying watch out for apartments near mosques, you will hear the first prayer of the day between 4:30 and 5:30 every morning. This picture is a sample of the prayer timings on any given day in the Gulf region, and actually there are six timings because I believe two of the prayers can be combined. Preparing for prayer usually requires special ablutions and washing, at least to the extent practicable (most malls, hotels, and large stores have prayer and ablutions rooms; separate for men and women of course).
Besides daily ritual prayer, there are four other pillars (duties) required in Islam: profession of faith; paying alms tax (zakat); fasting during Ramadan; and the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca once in one’s lifetime. As a note, these five pillars are required by Sunni Islam, but Shi’a Islam usually requires some version of them along with up to three other pillars, depending on the sect. Aside from these main unifying factors, Muslims are quite a diverse lot, reflecting a huge variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. So what you may think is “Muslim” is really a reflection of any given group’s unique heritage and its assimilation of Islam.
But let us get back to praying. Before Harry and I moved into our permanent apartment, we lived in the batcave apartments. These apartments are truly indescribable in their full horror, the one redeeming factor being a really nice gym overlooking the main road in town. Seeing as I am temporarily a lady of leisure, I took advantage of this gym daily, for health purposes, and my favorite activity of spying on others, known in polite circles as “people watching”.
So I am sweating and people-watching away when the noon-time prayers hit. Outside my window are the parking lot, sidewalk, construction zone, and a little green space with a tree set to beautify our apartment complex. Because we are very centrally located, this space is also a major passage for business people and others around the area. And this fine day the small patch of grass became the personal prayer area for one dishdasha-dressed man and his piece of cardboard-cum-prayer mat.
At first I felt quite lucky and a little naughty—watching a Muslim pray in the direction of Mecca is beautiful and quite moving, although I did feel somewhat the voyeur. But I watched him anyway. After a couple minutes of standing and bending completely flat in child’s pose, Mr. D-D finished up sitting on his heels with his fingers on his eyes. The gesture was really poignant.
And that’s when, God willing, some prayer was answered. As Mr. D-D made one final prostration, an absolutely beautiful, overly put-together (non-abaya) BABE sways around the corner and comes into his line of vision. He is sitting up and catches sight of her, his head swiveling 180 degrees from left to right, completely focused on her for a good solid minute, sitting on his heels. Whether she noticed or not I could not tell. After she passed, Mr. D-D got up, put on his sandals, hurled his cardboard into the construction site, and walked away down the road. Life is good, Insha’Allah!
(Clearly there is something to this daily prayer business…..)
* see this article for more information about this phrase and others (especially the last paragraph).
Besides daily ritual prayer, there are four other pillars (duties) required in Islam: profession of faith; paying alms tax (zakat); fasting during Ramadan; and the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca once in one’s lifetime. As a note, these five pillars are required by Sunni Islam, but Shi’a Islam usually requires some version of them along with up to three other pillars, depending on the sect. Aside from these main unifying factors, Muslims are quite a diverse lot, reflecting a huge variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. So what you may think is “Muslim” is really a reflection of any given group’s unique heritage and its assimilation of Islam.
But let us get back to praying. Before Harry and I moved into our permanent apartment, we lived in the batcave apartments. These apartments are truly indescribable in their full horror, the one redeeming factor being a really nice gym overlooking the main road in town. Seeing as I am temporarily a lady of leisure, I took advantage of this gym daily, for health purposes, and my favorite activity of spying on others, known in polite circles as “people watching”.
So I am sweating and people-watching away when the noon-time prayers hit. Outside my window are the parking lot, sidewalk, construction zone, and a little green space with a tree set to beautify our apartment complex. Because we are very centrally located, this space is also a major passage for business people and others around the area. And this fine day the small patch of grass became the personal prayer area for one dishdasha-dressed man and his piece of cardboard-cum-prayer mat.
At first I felt quite lucky and a little naughty—watching a Muslim pray in the direction of Mecca is beautiful and quite moving, although I did feel somewhat the voyeur. But I watched him anyway. After a couple minutes of standing and bending completely flat in child’s pose, Mr. D-D finished up sitting on his heels with his fingers on his eyes. The gesture was really poignant.
And that’s when, God willing, some prayer was answered. As Mr. D-D made one final prostration, an absolutely beautiful, overly put-together (non-abaya) BABE sways around the corner and comes into his line of vision. He is sitting up and catches sight of her, his head swiveling 180 degrees from left to right, completely focused on her for a good solid minute, sitting on his heels. Whether she noticed or not I could not tell. After she passed, Mr. D-D got up, put on his sandals, hurled his cardboard into the construction site, and walked away down the road. Life is good, Insha’Allah!
(Clearly there is something to this daily prayer business…..)
* see this article for more information about this phrase and others (especially the last paragraph).
3 comments:
I will eventually be employed, InshAllah. That's pretty much how I feel.
Me Too! InshAllah........
LOOOOL.. how hypocritical..to sit there and pray and the ogle a girl. Yes, he SO got what was supposed to be out of the prayer
(and btw, there's only 5 prayers.."sunrise" is not a prayer time, its just indicated because "fajr" prayer is supposed to be completed before sunrise, as opposed to all the other prayers, which you can do anytime before the subsequent prayer).
and LOOOOL, thats funny that expats warn about living close to a masjid because of the call to fajr prayer... u know, some Muslims don't like to be near there either, since the some ppls "call to prayer" is actually a freakin shout and can be pretty peircing when you're fast asleep!
Post a Comment