Mosque Tour

The women's prayer room.

Detail on wall.

Detail on window.

Incense & screen overlooking men's prayer room.

Courtyard.

After you take off your shoes, you walk into this entryway for the mens prayer room.

The men's prayer room has a chandelier, stained glass (above chandelier), and many more books along the side walls.

Looking back toward entry doors; women's prayer room is on second level.

Detail on the pillars.

Chandelier and stained glass.

Where the Imman (leader) stands for prayer times.

The doors; this was about as ornate as the decor got.

Detail of door.

The books were of great interest to me; that's a literature major for you!

The Qur'an on the higher stand; I'm not sure what the lower book is.

Close-up of the Qur'an

Courtyard.

Courtyard; note the spire from where the daily prayers are broadcast.

Entryway to mosque.

Building overview; I couldn't get far enough away to get a good overview with the spires but will try to get some pictures of other mosques from the outside while we are living here.

Craig's company has a club that I joined back in December but I haven't participated in any activities until today. This was a chance to visit a mosque which is not easy in Qatar. In Qatar, only Muslims can enter the mosque unless by special permission. It is my understanding that that is not necessarily true in other parts of the world.

I was kind of surprised by how simple everything was. When you go to a church in Europe everything is so ornate where there really wasn't much here. I'd be interested to know if that is true of all mosques (I don't know why I didn't think to ask that question on the tour!), if it is a Qatari mosque attribute, or if this was just the luck of the draw.

Some things I learned (remember I am pregnant so not a lot of information actually stays in my brain, unfortunatley).

• The women's prayer room is not as fancy as the mens because it is not used as much. Women typically will pray at home rather than at the mosque (the exception is on Fridays when women do tend to come to the mosque to pray).
• People are encouraged to go to the mosque nearest their home so that they build a community and are praying next to their neighbors.
• People line up shoulder to shoulder to pray, also to create a connection with their neighbor.
• Whether you cover your hair, face, or none is based on your culture's interpretation of the Qur'an. Women are covered because of their beauty: they can show their beauty to their husbands, fathers, brothers, etc. but not to strangers.
• The incense is burned for the smell, not for purification.
• Prayers are held five times per day but you can pray at home or work, you do not have to go to the mosque. Also, if you are in the middle of a surgery, important meeting, etc. you do not need to drop everything to go to prayer, you can do all of your prayers at the end of the day if you have to.
• You have an angel on your left shoulder that tallies all of the good you do in a day and an angel on your right shoulder that tallies all of the wrong you do in a day (I may have that mixed up).
• You cannot ask God forgiveness for things you do to wrong other people. If I hurt someone in some way, I must ask forgiveness from that person.
• Muslims are required to give 2.5% (that's the number I remember anyway!) of their savings to charity/the needy each year. It's not the percent of your yearly income but just f what you have put into savings for that year.

I hope to go on some more outings with this club, they seem to have something interesting every month but most often it is during the week and I don't believe it is appropriate to bring Anna along.