Little Mosque on the Corner
This is for my western friends, but anyone who sees me saying something wrong is welcome to jump in and fix it so it’s right.
We have a little mosque on the corner near our villa. Now, having a mosque on the corner is nothing special, in fact, when giving directions, it is kind of a joke, because you can give landmarks and then say “and you turn right at the mosque” but there are SO MANY mosques that using a mosque as a landmark is almost sure to confuse whoever is trying to find you.
Nonetheless, every neighborhood has its own mosque, and then there are bigger mosques where everyone gathers on Fridays, we call them Friday mosques, and then there are even bigger ones where everyone gathers on the two big holidays called Eids.
But this is our little neighborhood mosque:
I think it is very beautiful.
In the back, around this time of the year, they start a garden. I think it is for poor people to have something to eat, but I don’t know. I love it that they take a tiny little space and make it useful.
We live close enough to hear the call to prayer five times a day – it seems like more. There is the “get ready” call and then there is the real thing. During Ramadan, sometimes there are prayers over the microphone (it is on low) all night. It isn’t so intrusive; when it is hot and the air conditioning is on, you can’t even hear it. It’s kind of reassuring, to me, hearing someone praying all night long.
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Usually the mosque janitors grow some vegetables for their own cooking and to give them something to do as a hobby . I think many of them came from farming communities .
Ahhh. That would make sense. So even a community mosque this small has it’s own caretaker? Does he live there / sleep there? Are mosques open 24/7?
Whoever takes care of this garden has a great crop. I have been amazed at how much grows on this plot – you can see how little gardening space there is. He makes every centimeter count.
Intlxpater ;
most mosques have a live in caretaker , they have a small room attached to the mosque , i think you can see it in the second photo with window type A/C unit .
Most Mosques are open just before prayer time and closed afterwards . I think some big mosques like in the Souks are open most of the time but they close night time too .That is for Kuwait , other countries may differ in their opening time.
For sure the Grand Mosques in Mecca and Medina are open all the time ,all year long.
I wondered. I think most churches used to be open all the time, in other eras, when no one would think of stealing from the church. I think if I were poor and homeless, how nice it would be to sleep in a nice mosque, on a thick carpet, instead of under a bush somewhere.
I do see some mosques which seem to be almost always open – in shopping malls, the small ones special for people working in places like hotels, etc.
Daggero, is there a range of time within which one must make certain prayers? Like that early morning prayer, what is the latest one can make that prayer?
intlxpatr
the muslims must make their 5 times a day as per the period described for each prayer ,note the hours shift as the day lengthens or shortens as we progress during the year as per location of each city too ,like how north or south it is ,the timings given are for Kuwait city bigger countries with different cities timings may may differ as to their location east or west :
First one is Fajar ( pre dawn ) and it starts for these days around 4:30 Am and it lasts till just before sunrise
Second prayer (Duhur = Mid day) : about mid day to the after noon nowadays like about 11 :30 Am to 2:40 pm
Third prayer (Aser = afternoon ): it starts from say end of the mid day prayer to the just pre dusk, now about 2:45 to about 5:10 pm
Fourth prayer (Magreb = sunset ):it starts after sunset say 5:15 pm to when it gets dark around 6:30 pm
Fifth prayer ( Esha = night ) : it starts from night time say 6: 30 till the call for the first prayer .
So the cycle continues with each prayer period following the previous one . So muslims have enough time to perform their prayers although it is preferred to perform them as close to as to when the call to prayer is made .
Thank you, Daggero. I always wondered about that. My Muslim friends seem very relaxed about timing – of course most of them are women and pray at home – but they don’t get anxious and say “I have to pray right NOW;” they always seemed to have a window of time within which to pray. I wondered how that worked. I guess I should have asked my friends, but by the time they finish praying, we always seem to be talking about a million other things!
OK, next question: does the call to prayer differ depending on which prayer it is? I know the early morning prayer, the muezzin says something like “Come pray! It is better to pray than to sleep.” Is every azan/athan different?
Intlxpatr :
All the calls to prayer Athan are the same and you are right the pre-dawn (fajer) has the extera call of ( Prayer is better than sleep )
Thank you, Daggero. I always love Fajr. . . .Prayer is better than sleep!