Friday 21 August 2009

Mosque Animals

Is it just me who suffers from ignorants at the mosque every friday? Today I honestly felt like I was in the zoo. Actually it felt like it was the wild safaris of Kenya. There were creatures coughing, sneezing, snorting, and yawning. Not to mention scratching, toe-rubbing, hair-rubbing, and picking of noses.

Why do people do this when they are in the presence of God? More importantly don't they notice there are other people in the mosque and you should be at your best behaviour? Honestly, felt like a pig sty more than a mosque, but that's just me.

20 comments:

Veiled Muslimah said...

You know what irritates me in the Womens section? The mobile phones. I don't understand why they can't switch it to silent or off or even a beep for a little while. Music in the Masjd is just... careless if not distracting.

BuJ said...

it pisses me off to no end.. the mobiles and all, but mobiles are not dirty, it's just inconsiderate.

what's digusting is all the coughing without covering of mouthes etc.. it's just so bad and rude.

rosh said...

WOW!Really? WOW? What IS wrong with some folks -- born stupid?

Veiled Muslimah said...

Today the mobile went off during taraweh in the mens section AGAIN. It's surprising how this happens EVERY ramadan and the Imam has to give a reminder/admonition every ramadan.

And true, especially about hygiene issues. maybe the next khutbah on friday should be on masjid etiquette.

Digital Nomad said...

Oh my goodness, how about the belching during taraweeh?! It is disgusting, and my dad always says, "If you absolutely have to eat so much that you belch during salaah, then do everyone a favor and eat stuff that doesn't smell on the way up!"

Speaking of mobiles that go off during prayer...there was one lady who has a very distinctive ring tone, and her phone rang during salaah. After salaah, she turns to me and says, "Was that your phone? You should have turned it off before you came to the masjid!" Two seconds after that came out of her mouth, her distinctive ring tone rang loud and proud again. And she didn't even flinch. SubhanAllah!

On that note, Happy Ramadaan to you and yours! May it be full of blessings!

Anonymous said...

Was Ramadan today or it starts tomorrow as I thought/ was told ?!

That's nothing BuJ compared to what you shall experience if you go for Hajj.. Your feelings of sickness will get more amplified in Mecca's crowd ! Wa3ee

BuJ said...

Hala Rosh.. trust me ur not missing out on these things man.. i am in two minds if i should goto tarawee7 in the mosque or just pray extra at home. and yes to answer your question, these ppl are born stupid and unfortunately they get called MUSLIM rather than the more accurate DUNCE.

VM salaam 3leikom, how ru sis? alf mabrook wo ramadan kareem. btw i felt so bad coz i was getting ready today to go to the shelter etc but i found it was yesterday! stupid silly me!!! i hope the event was a success and bless u for advertising it.

D. Nomad, i agree 200% with ur dad.. my lord.. ufff.. belching.. that i don't get here a lot but when i do, of course it's more than disgusting.. yuk yuk yuk maybe we need an imam to give a fatwa that belching and other noises will be the same as farting.. i.e. you need to re-do your wudo after that. maybe that's a good way to fight it?

that female in your mosque needs her brain rebooted and for us to take her fone from her. how rude?!

IYM, welcome welcome!
today (Sat) was the first day of ramadan elhamdillah. I agree with you about hajj.. coz i went to omra a few weeks ago and i felt like converting religions!!!!!!!!!!! i was so embarrased by some of what muslims did there. in tawaf i got openly manhandled by both men and women. the women there are more scary than the men coz they are fatter, more hairy and more covered. honestly.. i just remember bellies and bulging boobs frigging pushing me around.. i swear i wanted to kill anyone that touched me.. i am so not looking forward to hajj although maybe i should go this year coz so many won't go coz of swine flu..

i think we muslims need to become a bit more cultured before we can continue to call yourselves muslims.

Until then i'm doing my eid prayers in the church!

Last but not least thanks Abagale for passing by.. how did u come by this blog by the way? you're very welcome here to just read or to write comments, which is strongly encouraged :) the whole point is to be closer to others thru sharing opinions.

so you like pets? :)

Anonymous said...

LOL BuJ.. as with manhandeling at Tawaf, I had my share too.. but by a psycho man who literally was hugging me with his body.. I had to turn around and yale at him and then change my path.. I was about to slap him but I had to respect where I was !

You don't need to convert BuJ.. our Religion is a great one.. no economic crisis and no killing business if it's followed properly.. you just have to educate ppl.. that's it :)

moryarti said...

I hear you buj ...

No offense, but I do prefer mosques in more 'emirati' residential areas like warqa, 3od el ma6eena, 6ewar than anywhere else because they have less of those habit you mentioned

الله يهديهم بإذن الله

Anonymous said...

Agreed. Friday prayers have become a way to catch up on sleep, groom your nose hairs, or play hopscotch with other 10 year olds.

I have a solution... well, a few.

1. Many people at the prayer dont even understand Arabic. Most are Pakistani, Indian, or from Bangladesh. Maybe we could hand out the khutba in written form in Urdu.

2. offer 1/2 off coupons to a barber shop so that those who would be picking their noses or petting their unkept beards would be able to get it done afterwards.

3. Offer a 10% off deal at some hotel for those who seem to sleep at prayer. They obviously arent getting any sleep at home, probably because of the crazy wife and hayawanat kids. Make it easier for them to get away for a night.

4. Have a "pit" in the masjid courtyard for kids to play. And mak esure that the center number in the hopscotch track is a secret trap door to a sound proof holding pen!

(You can alternatively ban any kids under 13 from coming to the Masjid... that might work instead of having an underground dungeon.)

5. Install those jamming devices for cell phones. They have them at theaters. You cant do the same in a masjid? The awqaff people are lazy.

Trust me, I'd make one hell of a planning minister.

BuJ said...

IYM you know what i think about this?

The problem is not Islam, it's the Muslims.

Just as the problem is not Arab culture, it's the Arabs.

Sadly a lot of Muslims are Arabs which gives Islam a bad name.. really sad, especially considering what we have been able to achieve centuries ago.

Now we cannot frigging reboot a computer without the help of an Indian (who we look down at instead of thank), we cannot get a haircut or build a building without the help of someone Indian too.. we say death to america and yet use ipods, computers, and various stuff exclusively invented in america..

but our faith shines when we go abroad and insist on having fish because the meat is not "halal"

oh give me a break!

BuJ said...

Mory.. you gave me a good idea.. i'll change mosques.. but this way i gotta drive etc.. and i prefer to walk :)

speaking of more emirati areas,, today as i was walking back home from tarawee7 i saw 3 kids with a total age of less than 16 taunting cars in the main street going at 80kmh.. they were swearing at the cars in an indian accent.. the stupid things are numerous:

1- how do u know the drivers are indian when so far away and the cars headlights are in ur face.

2- you're less than 3 feet tall, how do u expect cars to see u?

3- what do you achieve by shoving urself in front of cars? your organs are too small to be harvested, and your brain, well let's just say it doesn't exist (yet).

4- these kids were emirati.. hmmm

ABIT.. good to read u.. glad comments are still polite :)

you'd make a good minister? hell, forget that.. ABIT FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!

(that's assuming it's possible).

oh well, we go to pray and yet we forget that our actions are all wrong. we pick our noses, we don't silence our kids (or mobiles), we stink, we are rude and yet it's all ok coz we're praying in a mosque.

oh man, just wake up and open ur eyes.

ABIT, you have my vote!

I would love to be chief of police.. i will cut down on the bermuda triange of bad things: congestion-safety-roadmanners!

trust me.. i will do it.. and if u'll help me i'd tell u how

rosh said...

Cell phones are something I've never heard go off in a Church. However, I have seen people catch a snooze -- especially if the sermon is slow and boring. Trust me, it can get pretty 'sedative' :)

WOW ABIT hasn't sworn, threatened or verbally mutilated anybody.........yet :)

yay! BuJ for the city chief!

hemlock said...

buj, the issues you've raised are extremely valid - goes to show you know better than some people.

instead of ranting about it on the blog (which makes for a great catharsis), would it be too hard, to print out a few A-4 sheets in a couple of languages (wherever you think the culprits are from), and pass them around in the mosque before or after juma?

saying the same thing you've said here, that people need to be more respectful in the presence of god? and that all of the aforementioned should be avoided?

most people have never been given the opportunity to learn or to know any different.

try it, as a social experiment. you might end up showing a few people "the light" =)

(p.s, if you need help with translating into urdu, let me know).

BuJ said...

welcome hemlock! i agree with you 100%

education is key, but if u hand out leaflets, how do u make sure these people won't throw them away or that they are not illiterate in the first place?

my problem is that i am too sensitive to these things.. like last night at tarwee7 when this dude kept stepping on my toes while praying. maybe it's coz some people have been taught that u need to be sticking to the guy next to you in a line.. it's just wrong. especially those who stink or keep shaking

why do ppl insist on shaking while praying? it's so offputting.. i think i'll go and pray at home tonight.

i prefer to take things out on the blog rather than in the mosque coz i know i can control it better here.. and also coz i don't think ppl will note things and change.

hemlock said...

LOL! buj, im so sorry you have to go through this... just saw your umra comment.
*sigh*
it's so sad, but incidents like these take away from the sanctity of the place and the concentration in prayer.

that said, patience and tolerance are virtues of a muslim.
it IS ramadan, and you will be praying to Allah for Mercy, you may as well show some tolerance towards His creation who do not measure up to your standards...(i know this is so much easier said than done).

five years from now, you might not remember the shaking, annoying, stinking people, but Allah will have remembered you prayed in the mosque despite your reservations, which is the whole point, to put His will before yours...

(for the record, i'm just being a brat since i dont go to mosques in the first place)

BuJ said...

Hemlock you know what the funny side is? is that i drafted this post in my mind while i was still in the mosque!!!!!

you know.. you're right.. and one has to be patient.. ah.. ya Allah!

Veiled Muslimah said...

i am good elhamdulilah. :) haha, oh no. Yes it was on Friday. It was really good, a lot of people turned up and we managed to make 1000 boxes. I didn't go into the labour camps to distribute but I heard that their expressions were priceless.

InshaAllah, next time. :) I'll advertise if i find out anything else is happening.

What was sad though was the lack of Muslims I saw compared to the Westerners that showed up. Sigh.

And Ramadan Kareem!!

rosh said...

BuJ, I think Hemi has an excellent idea. Similar to mall etiquette, there should be a list of expected etiquette for places of worship. And I think it's true that some people never had to learn / understand expected etiquette. You know this is where we can make a difference. This is where culture can be spread / made aware.

If my cell went off during sermon or I was caught snoozing I think, I'd just turn red and 'evaporate' with shame. Not to forget all the judgemental stares and gossip! And I'm pretty sure, the introduction to my eulogy shall read - "rosh, that boy who's cell went off during sermon" phew! Yea capital punishment.

BuJ said...

salam dear VM.. people are people and all are humans regardless of faith. elhamdilla many ppl showed up, and don't worry about muslims, maybe they were preparing for ramadan and creating queues in the super markets!

Mr Rosh, catholics have perfect the art of making you feel guilty for sinning :) even more than muslims.. coz they had a head start by a few centuries, haha.