Powerful

From Sarah :

And so this evening i decided to walk abouts my neighborhood, find a cafe and study for the GREs before it got too dark. Not really know what direction I was heading, I stumble upon a beautiful mosque..

finally I found one in my neighbor, near by, one I could attend for Friday prayer.. I try to enter the mosque but its gated, and I’m not really sure where to go, so a man leads me towards the entrance. Realizing im not from around (because I couldn’t understand what he was saying) he proceeds to find out where the women’s section is (if there is one). Alas, he points behind a green curtain and tells me to pray in there.

I walk in …to find a peaceful older looking women who smiles at me as I walk in. a green curtain eH? Subannalah, the call to prayer is elevated by a loud speaker as soon as I walk in. I wait for them to begin prayer, and I step outside the curtain.

And I pray.

Enjoying the beauty of the creation that god has allowed. A beauty that is rarely seen in the US, as most mosques are old converted buildings, especially in the university setting..

I ask from god the normal things, of health happiness and peace, and walk out the masjid, only to start tearing as I think about the green curtain. Why was that man so insistence that I pray behind it? How can such a beautiful religion allow for something so unjust, how can a religion who elevated a former slave and allowed him to recite the first call to prayer be the same religion that places women behind a dark shield.. a shadow..

I know It isn’t so..

As I walk, the man who assisted me earlier questions as to why I didn’t pray behind the curtain as he had instructed. Why I disobeyed his orders as if he was the determining factor on judgment day. He then asked whether I understood him (in English) and how Islamic rulings state that women cannot be seen. I simple said, I do not understand and walked in the opposite direction (towards my house)

I know it isn’t so.

Tears role, as I am torn. Imagine for a moment, a women who gives birth to a man. A man who is then given money..by the grace of god …to build such a fascinating piece of architecture to be enjoyed by ALL of society. Would he in his sane mind, place his mother, the women who gave him life, behind that green embroidered curtain? What kind of sanity is that…

If I wanted to pray on a hilltop, in the grass, in the park when the call to prayer was heard, would I be placed behind a curtain? My entire world is grounds for prayer..how is it that a formal structure actually built for prayer is forbidden for me?

How is it that I cannot enjoy the beauty of the khutab on a Friday afternoon, of the passionate preacher voicing his sermon, or enjoy the gold Arabic calligraphy around the mosque, or the delicate detail paintings or the massive pillars which hold the building up.. why am I not able to enjoy the building that came from a women, who gave birth to a man, that could build the mosque…

I know it isn’t so,

but how could this man be so naïve..