Islam

October 18, 2014

Islam

[Originally posted Oct 18, 2014]

Islam. It’s kind of a heated topic. And it often gets a bad wrap. But surely the fastest growing major religion and 1 out 4 people on Earth must be on to something.

Islam and I first crossed paths when I was 19 and preparing to serve an LDS mission in Kingston, Jamaica (now that I think about it, I didn’t know a single Muslim growing up, and maybe didn’t meet any until I moved to Ann Arbor). I read that Muhammad, the last Prophet of Allah, was visited by the angel Gabriel in the year 610AD in the city of Mecca, present day Saudi Arabia. Over the next 22 years he received revelation from Allah which has been compiled in the Quran. And that all sounds fine and dandy, until I learned that Joseph Smith taught that the angel Gabriel is Noah. And I stopped dead in my tracks. How can I spend the next 2 years preaching that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the “only true and living church” if we also believe that Noah/Gabriel was sent to Muhammad and received the Quran. If God is the ultimate source of the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Quran why should I spend two years of my life trying to convince others that what I was preaching was the way back to God. It was the only thing that really made me think long and hard about whether or not I wanted to serve a mission.

On Friday we had a 12:45 meeting at the Mosque Information Center, located just outside the courtyard of the Blue Mosque. As we sat on the marble steps waiting for our hosts, we watched (and laughed) as tourist after tourist approached the gate to the courtyard (women often quickly slipping a scarf over their head) but were then turned away by the guard. Friday is Islam’s holy day, and the 1pm sermon given inside the Blue Mosque is closed to tourists. At 12:52 or so, singing came over the mosque’s loudspeakers, prelude music if you will. Eventually our hosts arrived and we entered through the gate (where other tourists were turned away - thanks to the generosity of our hosts in taking the time to allow us to enter with them) and into courtyard and then approached the main entrance of the mosque. The hot sun was directly overhead as a long line formed, first at the wash stations and then at the entrance way where shoes are removed before entering the mosque (the Quran teaches to pray in a clean space and so shoes in a mosque are forbidden). The mosque was packed. Jam packed. Katy was taken away to the balcony (men and women are forbidden to worship in the same area) while I followed Shadid (my host) in search of an empty spot of carpet. There was no where to sit/kneel, until an usher began whispering to Shadid and pointing to the front of the mosque. I then followed Shadid as we carefully tiptoed over row after row of people, eventually stopping at the very front of the mosque. It was one of those moments of, yeah, I’m the new guy, the white one with the pony tail. Lots of stares, they were kind stares, stares of curiosity and friendship, but they were stares nonetheless.

The entire sermon, which lasted an hour or so, can best be described as General Conference meets Bikram Yoga - spiritual and introspective, but also kind of hot with some necessary flexibility and movement. Before things officially got started people were, what I like to call “freestyle praying” which proceeds as follows: standing position to begin, then the hands come to the ears (similar to the idea of “hearing the words of the Lord”) followed by a full bow, then back to standing position, then fall to your knees and in the same fluid motion your hands and forehead meet the ground, then up to a kneeling position, back to the head on the ground prostration (this repeats a couple times) until back to a standing position. The dense packing of people in the mosque, along with the up and down and up and down and a good sweat was noticed on the brows of everyone around me. These prayers were offered by everyone present, but not in unison. I was told I could pray as I pleased.

Then things got going. The Imam (the head guy who does the Call to Prayer) began the first prayer (prayers are always in Arabic) and everyone got to their feet (adding to the General Conference - Bikram vibe). During the prayer the “freestyle” nature of prayers changed and the entire congregation performed the prayers in unison, complete with vocal responses at specific times. I did my best to just follow along. Standing. Bow. Prostration. Kneeling. Back to standing. I have prayed while standing, sitting, lying in bed, kneeling, while riding a back but never before have I prayed fully prostrated on the ground, with knees and forehead touching the ground. It felt unique and was a great reminder of the humility required by God. Then there was the sermon, given in Turkish, which was a bit more casual as people either remained in the kneeling position or sat down to be a little more comfortable. (I’m not too good at kneeling, a history of knee surgeries makes it a bit difficult, so I opted to just sit). Shadid gave me his smartphone and let me read the sermon in English while it was given. One line that I particularly liked: "And you will understand that the biggest jihad (arabic word meaning: religious duty of Muslims) is to struggle with one’s own ego. Then another round of prayers. Now, I’ve heard my fair share of the Call to Prayer from outside of a mosque, but hearing the Call to Prayer (our Imam had recently been in Mecca so his Call to Prayer was particularly energetic) inside the mosque with thousands of Muslims praying in unison was nothing short of inspiring, a very spiritual moment. I was in awe. The prayers were sung instead of recited, and accompanied with the fabulous acoustics truly felt as close to angelic voices as I’ve ever heard (it probably helped that the prayer was in Arabic, and so hearing in a different language added to the majesty of it all). Then at then end of a particularly long and powerful verse it was completely silent, for half a second, and then it was all over. Immediately a couple people quickly got up and took off to the door (just like at the end of Bikram) but most people remained continuing in prayer as before. Shadid told me that it often takes quite a while to leave the mosque because it is “forbidden” (and Islam really likes this word - forbidden) to walk in front of someone while they are praying. It was a religious experience I will always remember.

The similarities between Mormonism and Islam are striking. The Prophet Joseph Smith and the Prophet Muhammad are also an interesting comparison. One thing, among many, that I would like to adopt from Muslims: the use of the word “forbidden”. When asked about the word of wisdom, I often skirt around it and say things such as: “we’re not supposed to drink alcohol” or “our Church teaches that we should keep our bodies clean” or “I don’t drink coffee because I’d rather not be dependent on a substance to get going in the morning.” But, in the future, instead of offering justification or trying to explain commandments I’d like to take a more “Muslim” stance on the situation and just say “God forbids it.” (although this doesn’t quite have the ring of “Allah forbids it.”)