Breaking the fast

After work today, I came home, took off my pink-striped hijab, and changed into pajamas. I took a nap, and it was wonderful. My stomach had been hurting, I had had a headache, and I was tired. When I woke up two hours later, I changed into a bright blue scarf - a gift from my best friend from when she went to Israel. (Thanks, Chris!) I also put on a tunic-style shirt over my jeans so that I wouldn't need to worry about my back showing during prayer at the mosque. Unfortunately, I pinned my scarf a little too tightly and it bothered me the entire evening. During the day, I had not had this problem...

When my friend and I got to the mosque around 8:30, we entered a cafeteria-like room crowded with women and children, and we found seats at a table in the back. (The men were in an adjacent room.) There were napkins, cups, spoons, and jugs of water on each table... and in the center of each table was a plate of dates. They were mesmerizing. Prayers were being piped in through speakers on the wall, and as soon as those were through, we all took a date and ate it slowly. I'd never eaten a date before, and it was glorious. Apparently dates contain a very high amount of potassium, which helps with hydration.

(Ramadan is celebrated to reflect the time when the prophet Muhammad received the words of the Quran, and he ate dates and drank water to break his fast. Today, the fast is broken each night in this way.)

After this small nourishment, the sunset prayers were done as a group in the main rooms of the mosque. There were so many people there. So many. The men pray on the first floor, in a huge room in which one person at the front with a microphone leads the prayers. The women and children are on the second floor, which overlooks the men's area on the first floor. Both areas are carpeted in a certain pattern that designates individual spots for prayer. Basically, the carpet patterns are shoulder-width apart in even lines that allow enough room for prostration.

The actual prayer is led in Arabic, and consists of a series of motions. Standing with arms against the stomach, bending at the waist, standing again, prostrating, kneeling, prostrating, standing, and repeating this different numbers of times based on the time of day.

After the sunset prayer was the feast. We returned to the dining area where we had eaten the dates, and we were served plates heaped with lamb meat, roasted chicken, rice, different sauces and stews, nan, salad... so delicious. I kept thinking that someone had made all of this food, but hadn't even been able to try it. I was lucky to be busy in an office all day and not thinking about food... but being in a kitchen with all those delicious smells?

After this meal, there was about an hour to kill before the next prayer time, so my friend and I went... to McDonald's for coffee. We knew it was ridiculous, but we had some great conversation, and she explained to me a lot more about what was happening at the mosque.

And finally, back at the mosque, we did more group prayers. My friend had explained that these would be a little different than the normal ones that I had just finally learned. The leader of the prayers would read the Quran in Arabic throughout, and the idea is to read the entire book over the course of the 30 days. This usually goes on for over 3 hours per evening of Ramadan, but we only stayed for the first hour or so. This time, the rooms were even more crowded. We prayed in an overflow room with lots of women and children.

I mentioned the speakers on the walls of the rooms; every room and area in the mosque has these speakers so that everyone can hear not only the calls to prayer, but also be involved in whatever is happening at the mosque at any time. So even in our overflow room, we felt very connected to what was happening in the main area.

The atmosphere the entire evening was mixed. Everyone was hungry and tired. Hungry and tired mothers struggled to control their hungry and tired children, who were constantly shrieking. When the food was being served, some people were rude or demanding. But at the same time, there was an overwhelming attitude of celebration, gratefulness, and that of wanting to help others. Ramadan is a time when every good deed done by a Muslim during that month will be magnified in the afterlife. It's like a race or contest to do the most good things with the best attitude possible in your heart.

I learned a lot about myself through this experience. It also solidified in my mind some of the values that I stand for and why, including modesty. I actually appreciate that men and women are so separate at the mosque. I never once thought about how I looked or appeared. The focus was only on attitude, and that was wonderful.