Mosque

The mosque was very different than what I expected. I am not exactly sure what I was expecting when we got there but I think the outside might have fooled me a bit. When we pulled in to the parking lot I was stunned by the beauty of the outside of the building. Then when we got inside, I was a little confused. I guess I was expecting more than just a big room for their place of worship. Although the room was very cozy. I LOVED the carpet!!! It was so soft, but I suppose that makes sense considering they kneal and put their foreheads on it.

One thing that surprised me was how beautiful the writing from the Qur'an was and how pretty it sounded. I thought the picture in the first room we were in was absolutly amazing!!!!! I tried to draw it so I could take a little piece of that beautiful writing home with me, but it didnt turn out as well as I had hoped, but he liked it, so that made me feel better. Also, when he read to us, that was very pretty! Even though he didnt recite like he Imam does, I thought it was very beautiful.

Another thing that surprised me was the room they worship in. Like I said earlier, I don't know what I was excpecting, but I guess something other than that. Although the room was very interesting, it was simple but the alter type thing in the north east corner was very pretty. I found it very interesting that they announce when prayer is to anyone in the building, but the outside can't hear it. That makes it very personal.

Overall, I thought this was a very interesting field trip. Although he told us a lot of what we learned in the video, it was nice to hear it from his perspective. I thought it was kind of funny when he said that a lot of people pronounce things wrong, even Muslims that are not of Arab decent! I think that says a lot about our culture, that we don't even take the time to learn how to say things correctly, we just assume that is how they are! Another thing I found interesting was his explination of Ramadan. He made a good point that it is between you and God when you are fasting, and you can cheat but God will know. In the reading it didn't make it seem THAT important, even though I knew it was a very important part of their religion, I didn't think about the fact that you are just cheating yourself if you cheat your fast. I also find it funny that others think that Allah is a different God, when it is really not. Even in the short video we watched with the people from the University of Iowa, most of them didn't know either. One even mentioned that they pray to Allah, when that just means "One God"