Mosque & Fire
Looking at the skies get increasingly orange and seeing the sun disappear behind the smoke was all incredible, disheartening, and scary at the same time. I can’t believe the fires are affecting even Brea. It’s not like I have any close connection with the city, but my mall is there son.
I visited a mosque today in Garden Grove. It was through my perspectives class that I’m taking, and we had the opportunity to see what a mosque looks like on the inside, observe a prayer, and listen to a lecture by Dr. Siddiqi. He’s pretty up there when it comes to the Islam community, and represented Islam in many inter-religious dialogues. Anyway, some things I learned about Islam today:
- Muslims believe in prophets throughout history, including Adam, Moses and John the Baptist. Muhammad being the last prophet, and his writings (given from god) are now the Qu’ran.
- Jesus is also considered a prophet, but they consider him a messiah, and is expected to return one day to bring peace on earth. Â
- They don’t believe that Jesus was crucified.
- They include the Torah, Psalms and the 4 books of the Gospel as divine writing, however the Qu’ran is above all other writings.
- Mecca is the supposed location and the actual building that Abraham built as a place of worship for god.
- The term “allah” is just a general word equivalent of “god” in Arabic. Â It is not a specific name since Arabic Christians would also use “allah”.
We also had a chance to observe their noon prayer. I got to admit, sitting there watching them stand in their straight lines shoulder to shoulder, occasionally prostrating themselves was kind of peaceful. I’m glad I had this opportunity to see a totally new culture and religion, and just be a learner.