Tisbaar Prayer

Today I took the chance to do some cultural learning. I wasn't sure how well I would be received, but I wanted to take the chance to observe the Friday afternoon (Tisbaar) prayer.

Each day, at precicely 2pm, a call to prayer is uttered and people will flock to the mosque to pray. Men line up side by side in rows within the mosque, women and children pray behind the men. All the people are facing east and will do a series of bows while they pray. There is a person who utters the "call to prayer" and then the Iman will lead the prayer time as each person mimics him. For awhile now I have wanted to observe this in action, and finally got up the nerve to try.

Here's the thing. I've been a part of this service before in America. There's a large mosque near NC State campus that I have visited at least 3 times. No, I'm not thinking of converting, I'm just curious, and 2 of those were for a class assignment. We had a lab class on the other side of the road from this mosque so I was there for several different classes. So I have seen this before, but in a different culture knowing that I was accepted as an outsider. Here in Mekhe, the culture is obviously different and I did want to be respectful of their worship time.

I went early so I would be able to observe beforehand. I saw a group of kids at the well selling water, and started a conversation with them. I figured they would be able to tell me if it would be ok to sit and observe, and they seemed to indicate it would be. So I stayed.

Here's the reason the Friday prayer is a little different from all the others. I'm not sure why Friday is their day, but they feel that if more people can come together and pray at the same time, God will hear one of those prayers uttered because that person has done enough good works to gain God's favor. How heart wretching! How hopeless! And like many small villages, all the small businesses shut down for the Friday afternoon prayer time. Everyone in the city goes to the larger mosques to pray as one.

So I did get to see this in practice. People came in flocks. Some early, some later than I thought they would. But as the 2pm call was uttered many people came at once. There were probably 150 people there at this mosque. I was expecting a thousand. I was actually surprised to see people taking naps when I walked home from the mosque, but I believed those people to be women and out of towners who were traveling and were away from their home.

I didn't have a problem sitting and staying near the mosque. The people seemed to accept that I want to understand the culture here, and no harsh eye glares or words were uttered. In fact I was greeted before and after the prayer time by men, so I do not think they thought negatively of this.

So this was my weekly cultural lesson. I enjoyed it, though it shows the vast lostness of the people here and the work we have to do.