A Visit to A Mosque In America
Driving along the highway, all eyes are drawn as a magnet to the unique building with its golden dome and unusual architecture. The Islamic Center is located at the base of a residential street in a small neighborhood. The center houses an Islamic school, a community center, an international school and the Mosque, which is the place of worship for Muslims.
There are many misconceptions regarding Islam and Muslims. In reality most Muslims are non-Arabs and most live outside the Middle East. There are five million Muslims in the United States. There are an estimated 10,000-15,000 Muslims in the area.
Passing through the wrought iron gate, my eyes rivet to the cluster of flags to the right, one to reflect each of the 49-predominately Muslim countries. The United States flag is not among these as America is predominately Christian with Muslim being the third largest religion. Because America is our country and we are American Muslims, the American flag flows freely in the wind in a spot all its own.
Next my gaze is drawn upward to the golden dome and crescent moon covering the Mosque. Many non-Muslims are of the belief that Muslims pray or worship a "moon god". We do not. We believe in the same God as Christians and Jews. We believe in the oneness of God', the Creator of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. The crescent moon reflects our practice of adhering to the lunar calendar, or God's calendar, rather than the Georgian calendar, or man's calendar. This is why many Mosques will have a crescent moon topping the domes.
Each of the buildings is individual yet connected by covered walkways known by all who enter here as bridges'. The Islamic Center community building holds cl...
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.... For a Muslim, Friday is the holy day and special services are held in early to mid-afternoon. The Mosque is open seven days a week and available for each of the daily prayers.
Reflecting as I exit the wrought iron gate into the neighboring street, I see Muslims and Christian children playing together. I see a sign inviting everyone to an upcoming feast being held at the Community Center. I come to realize the many similarities between the Muslim and Christian faiths.
The Islamic Center offers a great opportunity for non-Muslims who are curious about the faith and would like to know and understand more. The Islamic Center is open to the public for tours. At this time over 40,000 people have toured this facility. Set aside a couple of hours of your time to experience this unique community and enrich your cultural awareness. Schedule a tour for yourself.
Through these events, islamic themes are displayed by Salih, but they are shown in many different ways. In this miraculous representation of a Sudanese town, two individuals bring together and resemble the Islamic religion in two opposing ways. By describing
In the article “Modern-Day Witch Hunts”, Jamie Dailey focuses the attention on problems that Muslim Americans commonly face on a day-to-day basis. He first paints a picture by comparing the violent acts performed on Muslims to the Salem Witch trial in 1692. The Salem Witch trials resulted in 19 deaths of innocent individuals, because they were accused of witchcraft. Dailey goes on to explain in America, the type of persecution Muslims endure has many forms. A more recent controversy towards this religion involves the building of the Ground Zero Mosque in central New York. The name of this building is very misleading, especially to the eyes of an American. Even though this structure is actually built a few blocks away from where the former World Trade Center stood, problems have still risen from the public. Americans often mistake Muslims as the group of people who had performed acts of terrorism on American soil, when it was actually an Islamic group known as Al Qaeda. Mosques all across the United States started being vandalized by people protesting against their religion. This article shows how irrational fear can corrupt the thoughts of people.
Springfield, IL: Charles Thomas Publishers, 2009. Print. Necipoglu, Gulru. Muqarnas, Vol 25: Frontiers of Islamic Art and Architecture.
Islam has a deep history, beginning with ideas originating before Muhammad and spanning to the present day. Before Islam, the Bedouin people’s faith contained a belief in supreme beings alongside animism. They also put a large emphasis on ancestor worship (Swartz 15). Some groups...
Islam, a religion of people submitting to one God, seeking peace and a way of life without sin, is always misunderstood throughout the world. What some consider act of bigotry, others believe it to be the lack of education and wrong portrayal of events in media; however, one cannot not justify the so little knowledge that America and Americans have about Islam and Muslims. Historically there are have been myths, many attacks on Islam and much confusion between Islam as a religion and Middle Easter culture that is always associated with it. This paper is meant to dispel, or rather educate about the big issues that plague people’s minds with false ideas and this will only be touching the surface.
Islamic teachings that are followed by Muslims around the globe do not have same context and applicability like other religions of the world. Islam not only tells about the way of worshiping the Lord and behaving like a good human being but it also give a complete code of life. It includes political, military, social, financial, legal and governance systems. Non-Muslims normally con...
The Middle East – a region of One Thousand and One Nights, but also a place of the religion of Islam, which has spread into many European countries over the past few decades. The United Kingdom is one of the countries, where the religion of Islam plays a major role. According to the census in 2011, 4.8 per cent of people living in The UK reported to be Muslims and what is more, nearly half of them were born there. The largest increase of this religion was in the age groups under 25. These figures reveal, that the religion of Islam is the second most widespread religion in the United Kingdom, right next
Many non-muslims after 9/11 have judged and criticized Muslims for their ethnic, religion, and the Islamic terrorist groups in America. (4) Surprisingly, most Muslim Americans in our population are completely against Isis. Together as a country, we must create more unity and peace within Muslim communities in the United States. Building Mosques for Muslims is a great way to bring communities together! A Mosque is a Muslim place of worship like a church. (1) The first Mosque structure built in America, was in North Dakota, 1929.”The number of Mosques built in the United States has risen up to seventy-four percent since 2000 and there are over two-thousand Mosques built today. (1) “Mosques help Muslims integrate in U.S. society, and in fact have a very productive role in bridging the differences between Muslims and non-Muslims in the United States.” Mosques encourage social and political speech. (5) “Many American Muslim leaders and non-Muslim organizations have spoke out against terrorism and extremist violence.” Working together to prevent terrorism plays an important factor in uniting Muslims and non-Muslims. American will continue to help increase unity with Muslims and non-Muslims across our
“Culture belongs to the imagination; to judge it rationally is to misunderstand its function” (Wilson 79). In “The Butterfly Mosque” by G. Willow Wilson, she acknowledges culture and explains why cultures can differ so greatly. She emphasizes why its highly inconclusive to try to find a meaning behind ones culture. As a young American Muslim women she is faced with cross cultural ironies as she tries to find her identity and where she fits in. Her conversion to Islam brings into light her internalized prejudice and the different perspectives of Westerners towards the Middle East and vice versa. In her memoir, she depicts both positive and negative aspects of both cultures and, her struggle to find a common ground between the two.
The lack of knowledge about Muslims by non-Muslims has caused a dangerous and growing unease between the two groups. Therefore, it is important to research care...
A mosque is a holy sacred building of worship for the muslim ummah. In Arabic,the word mosque means masjid “a place of worship”.The word masjid was derived from the arabic word salad which means “to bow down to prayer”.Building a mosque is a part of islamic culture and tradition.The first thing the prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) did upon reaching Madina was to build a mosque,the mosque of Quba .Since then muslims have built mosques wherever they go for their needs in the community.Muslims take the mosque very importantly as it is highly sacred and it is visited everyday for the five daily prayers.In the mosque,there is an imaam who leads the prayer in front of other parties.So prayer at the mosque is congregational.
At the first glance, Islam and Christianity appear to have nothing in common, however; as you go beyond the surface, they appear to have many similarities such as their beliefs of God, their beliefs of life after death, their holy scriptures, and their prayers. These religions, although two entirely different beliefs, share a similar origin. Like many other religions, they both claim to be the one and only true way to God. In order to truly see and understand their similarities, one must date back to the rise and birth of Christianity and Islam. Throughout the course of this essay, I will compare the many facets that show the alikeness between these two growing religions.
However, this was thought priority 20 to 30 years ago when mosques were mostly initially established. Though mosques have changed now in the sense that more is expected from a mosque, they are developing more to meet change and the needs of the community, for its new generation. The mosques combine religious and social activities that encourage active faith and strong community life. This is because Islam preaches unity of Muslims; this can take place in the mosque with community gatherings. Friday afternoon is the most important social-religious activity for the community to get together and meet other Muslims.
A mosque brings the community together as it acts as many things, a social centre, a community centre and an educational centre etc as it has many events which welcome both old and new members of the mosque. In addition to holding the five obligatory daily prayers, mosques hold jumu?ah prayers, or Friday prayers, which replace the midday prayer as the second required prayer on Fridays. It is required for all men to attend mosque on Friday for Jumu?ah. The sermons often have a strong practical slant, trying to integrate and apply Islamic beliefs and historical teachings into contemporary daily life. In many Islamic societies, jumu'ah often has a significant community or even political role. I believe sermons are significant in bringing the community together as the congregation is standing side by side in a line, facing Mecca, together, all united in their faith and worship of Allah
For my places of warship assignment, I decided to go to the mosque. For the first time on September 28, 2014 I went to the mosque with a friend of mine who is a muslim. Mosque is a Muslim place of warship. When I was there I heard some people saying masjid. I ask my friend that what is the difference between mosque and masjid. He said that mosque is a english word for masjid; in urdu or in arabic we say masjid. Then i also realized why the mosque is named masjid. When I got there, my friend introduced me to some the members of the mosque and his friends. People there were the most friendliest people I have ever met. They never made me feel like I am not part of them. They welcomed me, greet me, and asked me to come every week if I