Over the past few decades, the Islam religion received negative media audience across the continent due to terrorist-related cases. The infamous case is the Twin Towers attack in New York on the 11th of September 2001. Since then, other terrorist attacks occurred across the globe with most of the pointing towards the Middle East. Hence, a stereotype towards the Muslims in major countries began, where people stopped associating with them or changing transportation means when a Muslim boards. These factors and reasons made me choose the Islam religion as my assessment. It will help people understand the true meaning of Islam, its rules, its laws and how those that practice it should conduct their daily lives
For purposes of collecting enough information about the religion, I chose to visit one of their major mosques around Texas. I used the Islamic Association of Northern Texas to conduct the research. I settled for the Dallas Central Mosque, located at 840 Abrams Rd, Richardson, Texas (Islamic Association of Northern Texas). The website provides information about the Islam services, education, activities, and initiatives. It keeps the members and visitors up to date on new information such as by-laws through newsletters and multimedia. It publishes most of the activities on its homepage. The homepage provides the Islam calendar of prayers in different locations and notifies its members the leaders who will conduct their Friday services.
After contacting the relevant authorities, I picked Wednesday as a good time to conduct the research. Friday was not an option since it is a prayer day for the Muslims. Hence, it would be too busy. They conduct prayers five times a day: early in the morning, midday, afternoon, evening and night. The best time was midday as it would provide a good chance to interact with the majority of the Muslims on lunch break. There are different classes and schools for its people and any other religious faith that seeks to learn their religion. It is a good gesture, which shows unity and acceptance to their religion.
The Islam service is quite different from Christianity. Prayer is a key component in their service which they recite most of the times while their sermon is quite small but direct to the point. It is a modern mosque, unlike the ones in the local area. It has a brown-golden finish with its cap having a shiny golden color. Its entrance has a chandelier hanging from the second floor, lighting up the church, and it is quite beautiful at night. The tour guide of the day was Masha Allah, one of the mosque’s administrator. As one enters the gates of the mosque, the first thing to do removes their shoes because the mosque is a holy ground. From there, one heads to the washbasins to wash their hands but without soap. It is a form of purifying ritual before one proceeds into the mosque. One has to wash or rinse their face, hair, arms and elbows three times. The process might be disturbing to other faiths but bear with it for the time.
Before entering the mosque, one heads to the prayer area and recite the two Rakat of prayer, then afterward conduct a private prayer or read the Qur’an till one hears the call to prayer. The prayer sounds like a song, which is common to people though they might not understand what it means. Men and women line up separately for the prayer, done by bowing while facing Mecca, their holy place. The Imam is at the center of the two groups, and he is the one who call off the prayer and leads group prayer. From there, the Imam reads the group a chapter from the Qur’an then leads four more Rakats then people conduct their individual prayers while sited. One thing I learned is their belief in prayer, which acts as their stronghold. It unites them as one since everyone recites the same prayer, though one can conduct their individual prayer. The mosque is their holy ground, which they respect and honor as their forefathers did in history. Keeping the tradition makes Islam one of the most respected religions across the world. Unlike Christians, the women and men stay separate from each other as it were in history.
One major point to note in the Islam religion is they pray facing Mecca irrespective of where one is across the world. Mecca is the Islam holiest city as it marks the birthplace of Muhammad, their prophet (Mecca par 1). The Ka’ba Mosque in Mecca is their prayer ground, which according to the Muslim tradition is where Abraham built his altar, a black stone surrounded by the mosque. Muhammad marked the city as a prayer center, which the Islam faithful have to visit at least once in their lifetime (Mecca par 3). The Islam religion observes the same calendar as the Jewish religion, though it does not have a corrective system to align with the solar calendar. Ramadan is their holy month, which they observe on the ninth month of their Muslim year (Islamic Holidays and Festivals par 5). During the month, they fast from morning till evening then at the end of the Ramadan, they invite people to come and celebrate with them.
The findings of Islam religion will provide people with a different perspective about its people. They have similar practices and holy days as Christians, though they follow it to the latter. However, their discrete nature and religion make people fear them as well as the stereotypes that follow them. The wrongs made by two or three people in their religion does not make them all bad. They are our brothers and sisters, and it is a high time for people to unite against discrimination by religion. It is the only way for people to advance together and create a better future for future generations. The Dallas Central Mosque is a great place for everyone to learn more about the religion and I would recommend it to anyone who seeks answers to their questions.
Works Cited
Islamic Association of Northern Texas. 2016. Web. 6 May 2016. < http://iant.com/ >
Islamic Holidays and Festivals. March 17, 2015. Web. 6 May 2016. < http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/holidays >
Mecca. 17 March 2015. Web. 6 May 2016. < http://www.religionfacts.com/mecca >
