2021 June 13 – NT – female age 28 – My Personal Experience at a Different Mosque

Asalam Alekoum,

Last Sunday’s class was interesting and informative. We had a new student sister S, also I met some current students H and M. As soon as I walked in the classroom student H was in charge because the teacher was busy with the new student. H asked me if I could pray two cycles. After I was done with my prayer, then I went on a meditation mode. I never meditate before, so it was something new to me. Also last week we opened about personal experience regarding Islam.

What is meditation?

Meditation is where individual practice different techniques such as mindfulness or focusing the mind on object, or activity to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. Let me tell you about my experience with first time meditation, at first, I thought it was funny that H is asking me to meditate. I respectfully sat down crossed my legs and places my hands on each knee. I closed my eyes, and I was saying “Allahu Akbar La ilaha illallah” which means God is most grateful, there is no god but God. After finishing from the meditation, I felt more relaxed and less stressed, but I also felt more connected to God.

After finishing from my meditation, the teacher asked me to pray 2 cycles of a practice prayer and say the prayer allowed. My teacher said that I kept missing apart from the Tashahud. So, I sat down and practiced and practiced and my classmate M helped me with the pronunciation until I recited it correctly. After that we took a break, and after the breaks we shared our personal stories.

My story was about praying at a different mosque until an incident happened. I would like to keep the mosque’s name privately and I will explain why in the next paragraph. It was August 2018 and my friend, and I went to pray for my father’s in-law janazza and my friend is from a Caribbean Island which her style and culture are different than mine. We entered the mosque sat there for a little then we prayed. After the prayer, a sister that is very involved with the mosque started commenting about my friend’s outfit. She said this is inappropriate to were at the mosque and the correct way to dress up for a prayer is that you must cover your feet with socks. But she was very rude. My friend did not have much knowledge about dress code. She might not be that religious or there are many million reasons why she dressed like that. She was wearing short sleeve shirt with long skirt and her hair was wrapped in a turban. My friend never prayed at that mosque before, so she was surprised from the sister’s reaction but also, she felt uncomfortable.

The reason I shared my story is because since that incident I never when to pray at that mosque because if that sister judged my friend, then she could judge anyone that is praying there. I think instead of judging she should advice and help friend or anyone who is struggling with the deen. No one should be treated like that inside a mosque. Mosque should be a place for worship and connect with God and that is why I kept the name of the mosque privately. Every single mosque in the world is the same, but not humans. We are all sinners, and everyone is different.

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