Religious Location

Driving along the highway, all eyes are drawn as a magnet to the unique building with its golden dome and unusual architecture. The Islamic Center is located at the base of a residential street in a small neighborhood. The center houses an Islamic school, a community center, an international school and the Mosque, which is the place of worship for Muslims.

Once inside the prayer hall, the imam explained to me that in a mosque there

In addition to the structure's architectural composition, elaborate Quranic inscriptions further elaborate this message of religious superiority. Carole Hillenbrand alludes to such:

As a child, I didn’t think my life’s situations and experiences were too different from others being a Muslim in Canada. I only came to the realization of this as I grew older. Living as a Muslim we celebrated different holidays, wore different types of clothing, and valued things differently. I grew up in Cambridge, Ontario, and only moved to Mississauga in the ninth-grade grade where I realized how much differently I was treated. It wasn’t always ignorance; they were just unknowledgeable and unaware and I couldn’t blame them as I was apart of a religious minority. I looked at the understanding of my life’s events being apart of an Islamic subculture from a conflict theorist’s perspective where social life was looked at as “privileged groups

During the last eleven years I have worked at the department of motor vehicles. I have met many people from different backgrounds and cultures. While I worked at the Tempe office, I came across many people from the Middle East, mainly Arabs and people from Pakistan and India. It was through my dealings with Middle East people that I notice how friendly and accessible they are. It was then that an interest in finding more about this culture started. When I decided to visit a mosque as part this project I was not sure what to expect. My experience is divided in two, as I ended up visiting two different mosques. On Saturday January 24 around 12:45 pm I arrived at a mosque located in

The association operates the mosque attended by the family of Ahmed Mohamed, the suburban Dallas student who became a sensation on social media after word spread about his clock and the way he was treated.

On November 12, 2015 Friday evening I had the pleasure of visiting the Jewish Community Center which is part of the Judaism faith and is located in 1529, 16th Street, NW, Washington DC, 20036. Personally, I am part of the Muslim faith as well is my entire family. Throughout my childhood and teenage years my faith was strongly emphasized in my household. My mother would take my siblings and I to Quran teachings every day after school to learn more about our faith and learn the holy text. I try to practice the Islamic faith to the best of my ability. Praying five times a day in my faith has kept me close to my faith and has helped me come over any struggles or worrying I

Being a Muslim-American in post 9/11 America has been turbulent. Like most children, I longed to fit in and be accepted, but I also wanted to preserve my native cultural roots. The odds were against me as I struggled to find balance in a place that could barely tolerate me as a child, and would hold deep seated fear of me as an adult. In an attempt to combat this growing reality, I tried looking to the mosques. However, the local mosques were, instead of religious areas, cultural centers, and when the Afghan community in Chicago is non-existent, I remained confused as a Muslim in and out of the mosque.

A more recent conflicts have occurred after 9/11. Mosques have been vandalized, bombed and burned; and Muslim and Americans having the perceived appearance of “Middle Eastern” continue to be attacked and harassed. And when critics condemned the proposal of a mosque at “Ground Zero.” “A national controversy erupted when New York Muslims announced the “Cordoba

As a result of the Paris attacks, groups of what can only be presumed as prejudice Canadians set fire to a mosque in Peterborough Ontario. These groups are wrongfully associating all Muslim people with the extreme Islamic group ISIS. The Muslims of Canada have condemned ISIS actions through public verbal demonstrations, helping show non-Muslims that they pose no threat and are not associated with the extremists. These grassroots efforts have been occurring in major Canadian cities found in Ontario such as Toronto, Ottawa, London and more; all in hopes to educate people of the indigenous Islam in Canada, which is based on Canadian beliefs. In Western countries Muslims have the right to believe what belief systems Islam prophesizes in; this right is guaranteed without the fear of ridicule and is free from the assertion of Islamic beliefs other societies

She always dreamt of building her own mosque one day. Growing up, Hasna had a wonderful experience attending the mosque with her family. However, over time, she became aware of gender disparities that no embodied the spirit of inclusivity she longed for. Upon the completion of her education at University of California Berkeley and University of Southern California, Hasna decide to begin the initiative for a women’s mosque that would highlight and empower female scholars. “According to a Gallup Poll, Muslim women are the second most educated female religious demographic in America,” said Hasna. She began by documenting her ideas, gathering support by giving talks on the need for the space, and held a townhall meeting to gather opinions address concerns. With a board forming and the help of the Pico Union Project, the women were able to organize their first Jumah prayer, led by Edina Lakovic, on January 30th, 2015. Being a highly acclaimed speaker, “her involvement has brought a lot of attention to the mosque” Hasna

The exterior of the New Brunswick Islamic Center is incredibly misleading. The outside appears similar to a factory, yet, it’s the inside that suggests something holier. The inner appearance of the religious center is not very extravagant either, yet, it has a respectful atmosphere to it. Everyone acknowledges each other with a warm greeting, and everyone acts friendly. The building itself only was composed of a lobby and a musallah¸ or ritual hall. The women sat separated from the men, and everyone was required to remove their shoes. The age distribution was very spread out. Many young children accompanied their parents to prayer, while many older worshippers came alone. In fact, the lowest subset age-wise were college and high school aged students. The dress of the worshippers was perhaps the most varied. Some were in traditional garb, some were in basketball shorts and snapbacks, and some even fused traditional robes with baseball caps.

Next, my mother told me this mosque is the biggest one, and the second religious buildings, also it has the tallest minaret in the world. This mosque has a roof made of light steel, and decorated with cedar wood which opens in 3 minutes for bringing fresh air during the summer. Also, this mosque has many chandeliers made in crystal. The location of this mosque is right by the sea overlooking the Atlantic ocean,

My first impression upon arriving at the mosque was that it was very drab and plain inside, as compared to how it looked on the outside. The religion I grew up in had beautifully decorated churches; while I wanted to ask why the mosque was so drab inside, I felt it would sound rude and unkind. Furthermore, I was disappointed to see the only chairs available to sit upon in the mosque were for pregnant, disabled, and elderly people. The religion I grew up in had nice, plump, padded pews for its members to sit upon. Again, I did not question why there were no pews as I felt it would be unkind.

I chose to research the Muslim religion for my site visit. I wanted to have in depth experience with this religion since I did my group project about Sikhism and during class we went into great detail about every other religion. I did not know what to expect when visiting a mosque, it was a pretty nerve-wracking experience for me being a non-Muslim. I have been raised with Christian morals my whole life even though I have only gone to church a few times in my whole life. Almost all religions have a house of prayer; Jews have synagogues, Buddhists/Hindus have temples and Catholic and Christians have churches and cathedrals. Muslims have mosques; each religious center has their own different rules, rituals and services that need to be followed. A mosque is a place of prayer for Muslims within the Islamic belief. Another word for mosque in Arabic is Masjid. Kind of like a church, a mosque is where Muslims worship and bow before Allah to declare their obedience and loyalty. Mosques date back till the time of the prophet. In order to find a mosque, I went on the Internet and stumbled upon Masjid Beit El-Maqdes.