Ship of Fools: UK Mosque Open Day

Thread: UK Mosque Open Day Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

To visit this thread, use this URL:
http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=70;t=029424

Posted by Aravis (# 13824) on :

Did other shipmates attend a mosque on February 7th? If so, how was the experience?
(I'm not sure which board this is best suited to, so if a host wishes to move it please do so.)

Posted by starbelly (# 25) on :

None of our local ones were doing it this time, but I did visit one last year on an open day.

Really fantastic to see what is inside, and to have a guided tour, we were even able to watch the men at their 6pm prayers.

We were given a presentation about all the activities their community are part of (including Scouts, which I didn't know) and the were also very open about the fears of the community about the way they are perceived, and the links our town has recently had with terrorism.

Afterwards we were catered for, and were able to ask questions, which were answered openly and I feel honestly, even when some of the questions were quite hard. (eg. Why wouldn't you shake hands with my female friend at the door, but you were happy to shake hands with me, why do women pray separately, what are you doing to counter the problem of radicalisation)

Really worth doing, although brings up more and more questions than you had before!

Neil

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

Could you perhaps post the answers to those questions?

A friend and I encountered a man in Hyde Park on a demo who had been performing his prayers, and he was generous enough to talk with us about his practice. When we separated, he shook hands with my friend, and I put mine out as well - which he took, but I could feel that I had caused a frisson in him. Nothing was said, and I was grateful for his generosity in overcoming his natural behaviour, but I felt it had been a mistake on my part.

Posted by Pine Marten (# 11068) on :

Both our local mosques took part in this - Mr Marten & I did not go as my knees and feet were aching too much, but we have been on other occasions. According to friends later it was packed, loads of local people, lots to see, and our local MP, one J.Corbyn, was there - he usually goes to community open days both at the mosque and at our church.

So I was a bit sorry that we didn't go, but to be honest I was too knackered - and I had to get back to our late afternoon 'quiet' service, which I help run.

Posted by Pine Marten (# 11068) on :

About the handshaking - some of our local mosque sisters are in a women's group at our church. They will not shake hands with men but happily hug and kiss the women.

Posted by starbelly (# 25) on :

From memory the hand shaking thing was a sign of respect in the culture, that you don't approach a woman without permission. I argued that the very offering of a hand was permission...

Praying separately I had two reasons, the first would be that men might be distracted by having women around, and that could distract you from your worship. I argued that it was treating people in an immature way to think that adults cannot focus when a member of opposite sex was in the room. This got a laugh, and he added that it is also written that this is the way the mosque should be set out (a common reason!).

And with regards to radicalisation I could see that this community was really promoting education, both religious education and love of knowledge generally. Language classes were run, and they also helped children who were struggling with particular subjects at school with extra tuition, especially science and maths. They also took the issues around mental health seriously and had several groups and 121 programmes to help people.

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

I've heard a similar reason for separate worship from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. That the men would be distracted.
I've also heard from a woman that women didn't want to be involved in synagogue worship, and would rather chat behind the screen. This I distrust. She was a bit of a pain in other ways. (I got accused of "being one of those". i.e. goy interested in Judaism who has doubts about the behaviour of the Israeli government.)

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I've heard a similar reason for separate worship from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. That the men would be distracted.

I attended a college that was (at the time) administered by the Marist Brothers. The chapel was octagonal in shape and featured windows depicting biblical references to Mary. A young professional model had posed for the windows, which were very well done and very realistic. They were later replaced with abstract stained glass on the grounds that they were distracting to the brothers.

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

Sad, isn't it?

Posted by Aravis (# 13824) on :

There were at least four mosques taking part here, but as parking isn't great in those areas and the weather was terrible, I only managed to get to two of them. They were quite a contrast.
The first hasn't done open days before and I don't think it has much interest in inter-faith discussions. It evidently hadn't occurred to the organisers that people might turn up who were completely ignorant of their customs, and they weren't sure what to do when a young couple came to look round and the woman had no head covering. (She suggested borrowing her partner's baseball cap, which they decided was OK.) They explained general stuff on Islam in rather limited English and told those present that Allah would welcome those who followed his laws into heaven, but that those who followed Satan's deceptions would end up in hell. They assured us that terrorists were deceived by the devil and would go to hell.

The second mosque, which is starting to develop a friendly relationship with our parish and encourages its members to support our monthly cafe, was a complete contrast. We were welcomed with coffee and home-made baklava. They had men, women and young people all running stalls at the event. There was a table of Korans in Arabic and in English, explanations of its importance and recordings; a table where you could get your name written in Arabic; a table where you could practise writing Arabic with stencils; a dressing-up table for girls to see what it was like wearing the various items of head covering; and well produced, detailed information posters all around the room explaining Islam's position regarding equality of women, science, other faiths, Jesus, Mary, etc. etc. They encouraged the many visitors (male and female) to stay and observe the sunset prayers, then spent five minutes giving us a rough translation and explanation of what we'd watched.
It was a great example of a well-organised outreach event that was suitable for a wide range of people, and made me think that perhaps, in quite a multicultural area, we should plan something similar as a gentle introduction to the Christian faith. But that's another discussion.

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :

I went to an open day at a local mosque some years ago. It was really interesting apart from the young woman convert (a New Zealander) who thought that because I asked a lot of questions I was seriously considering converting to Islam, and was a bit pushy. Everyone else was very welcoming and gracious.

And I got the same answer when I asked about separate prayer rooms for men and women.

Huia

Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :

On the issue of praying separately, the posture for Islamic prayer should maybe be borne in mind. I have heard Muslim women say that they prefer not to have men looking right at their bum during prayers, which makes sense to me.

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

To me, too.

Posted by DangerousDeacon (# 10582) on :

quote:
Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
On the issue of praying separately, the posture for Islamic prayer should maybe be borne in mind. I have heard Muslim women say that they prefer not to have men looking right at their bum during prayers, which makes sense to me.

It is not just Islam, but also the Pacific Islands - men on the right of the church, women on the left, which reflects older traditions than Christianity. And one of the reasons given is so that the men and women are not distracted during worship, especially when kneeling down for prayer.

UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0