The giant door at the entrance
Our guide had asked us to arrive a little before prayer time so that we could watch them pray, so we got there, the mom's donned Abaya's and we herded the kids up the stairs to the viewing area and watched the men pray. The place we were in is also where the women pray (though its not terribly common for women to come to the Mosque to pray unless its Ramadan). We watched and listened for about fifteen minutes- it was all in Arabic but it was really cool to be invited to watch.
Afterwards, during our tour, our guide told us that they all come to the Mosque to pray together to be united and to remember that God created everyone to be equal- from a laborer to a banker- they all pray next to each other.
At the end of the prayer they all turn to the left and right to bless each other-- kind of like passing the peace in church (another similarity... which I absolutely love finding!)
Once the prayer was over we met our guide downstairs and he began our tour. The Grand Mosque in Bahrain was built in 1988 and is one of the largest Mosques in the world. It can house 7000 people for worship-- 5000 inside the mosque itself and the rest outside. The huge dome on the outside is currently the worlds largest fiberglass dome and weighs 60 tons and was built in Bahrain.
He told us all about where the materials used to build different parts of the mosque were from-- the chandelier is from Austria, the glass globes hanging around the chandelier are from France, the carpet from Ireland, the teak wood from India, and the marble from Italy. It is simplistic in design, but still beautiful. And honestly, as stunning and breath taking as the fancier mosques like the one in Oman or Abu Dhabi are, these one felt more reverent and like it was built for worship and not just for show.
Every Mosque we've visited have had these curved niche's in the walls and I've always wondered what they were for or if they were just for aesthetics. Turns out, the curves help amplify the Imam or the speakers voice so that it reaches the whole of the room. Our guide had all the kids go into the niche and yell their names and it resonated through the whole mosque!
He sat us down and talked to us about their prayers and their faith and even shared a prayer with us. He sang it and it was lovely!
Before they pray they wash their hands and arms, face and feet to be clean when they come before God in prayer. This is done even at home when they pray.
This is the prayer that he sang.
He let us ask questions about Islam and was open about his faith. He was very strong in sharing that Islam is a peaceful religion and it is against their faith to be violent towards anyone and that the extremists who try to use Islam as an reason for their violence aren't truly following Islam. (I'd heard this before from one of my friends-- she had explained that its against Islam to even use their tongues against another person; that they shouldn't speak ill towards or about anyone else). So again I say to all the stateside Americans out there... the garbage you see on the news... the word "Muslim" that gets thrown in front of the word "terrorist" shouldn't be there. True Islam isn't meant to be violent.
After that he let us wander about for a little bit and the kids what they do best and spun around and danced in the middle of the room... which is another thing I just never expected about the Middle East... kids are encouraged to be kids. There's no looking down on them for having extra energy or dancing in the middle of a house of worship. They understand they're children. As much as it challenges my American sensibilities, I do really love that Stella is able to just be herself and no one shoots us nasty looks or says anything about it. They smile and understand.
We finished up our tour and hung our Abaya's up (which... we never got a picture of all of us!) and then one of the women in the office wrote all the kids names in Arabic on the back of a postcard for them!
Stella (also-- Arabic is read right to left not left to right)
Our guide and the women in the office were so patient and awesome! Stella asked them what her name was in Arabic and they just kept telling her... "Stella". And she was convinced that there was an actual Arabic word for Stella and was so mad there wasn't. We finally compromised and I told them her name meant "Star" in Latin and so they breathed a sigh of relief and told her that Star in Arabic was "najima".
We had a great tour! I really, truly love all the opportunities we have had to visit all these different houses of worship and learn about different faiths. Finding out that there are so many similarities between all the major world religions has been eye opening and incredible. Seeing kids from all different faiths play together without issue and spending so much time with women of all different faiths has warmed my heart and brought me so much joy. Its just proof that people can live in harmony even when they believe different things.
Another interesting thing about Islam that I've learned....
- Muslims believe in Jesus. They believe in the Virgin birth and that he was an important man. He is actually one of their prophets and they believe in his teachings of love and his importance in the world (they just don't believe he was God's son or that he was resurrected). But they respect and believe in him.
I'm barely scratching the surface on Islam and all there is to learn. It is truly fascinating and I'm so excited to keep learning. As far as our world Religion home school field trips we're still trying to get a tour of the Hindu Temple in town and possibly visit the Jewish Synagogue (which is the only one in the whole of the Middle East).
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