So although our group was scheduled to go to the Mall of the Emirates that morning (where they have the famous indoor ski resort), we thought that taking advantage of this pretty rare opportunity was going to be more culturally enriching than skiing inside. And it was. (For us. If you like to ski inside, I'm not judging, you should do what you want on vacation!)
The mosque itself was beautiful, both outside and in. Our program was led by a man and a woman, and they showed us how Muslims wash themselves before prayer (ablution), showed us the positions/prostrations used in the prayer service, and answered lots and lots of questions.
I have actually done a fair amount of reading about Islam (in particular, the plight of women in fundamentalist Islamic theocracies troubles me), and I have to admit that I went into this program assuming that whatever "open minds, open doors" paraphernalia they threw at me would just be to make the westerners feel warm and fuzzy about Islam. I was assuming I would be exposed to some "watered-down" version of Islam -- that, unfortunately, the "best" Muslims really were the ones who followed the violent version of jihad, and aimed to totally eradicate "the people of the book" (that's us). Those fundamentalists were the ones that were getting their religion most right.
But wait.
Why did I have this attitude? I don't want to be lumped in with the violence of Christian crusaders of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, or the sheltering, exclusiveness, and polygamy of the FLDS. Just because they chose one or more sections of scripture (lifted out of context, in my opinion) and followed them all the way through doesn't mean they're the "best" kind of Christian or that they're the ones who got the religion most right. And I definitely don't think that my brand of Christianity is "watered-down." So why was I imposing this weird standard on Islam?
Anyway, the whole visit was sort of eye-opening for me in this way. I don't know exactly how I feel about Islam now, but it's better than what I thought a week ago. I do think there would be so much benefit in Christians and Muslims learning to play nice, to get along better... but sometimes I wonder if that's inevitable -- they think they have the right final answer, and we think we have the right final answer. I can't speak for them, but I'm not willing to compromise on my understanding of that answer. But I'm willing to love and live peacefully.
Here are some of the things we learned about Islam that I didn't know before:
- The religion requires both men and women to dress modestly, and to dress according to their gender. There is not much further detailing about what that means. What we view as typical "Muslim wear" is actually just cultural fashion, which is why it's seen mostly the gulf region. (Most Muslims here in the states and in Europe favor normal (conservative) western clothes, with maybe a colorful head scarf as an accessory.)
- What women (and men) wear is entirely their choice. Islam makes a big deal out of free will, and states specifically that people can't be forced to do (or wear) things they don't want to. At least in free and tolerant societies (like the US and Dubai). This of course is not true in places where the Taliban is in control and imposes their own interpretations of the dress code, as law.
- Women are most definitely allowed in mosques, although they're not required to go as men are. Most mosques have separate prayer rooms for women, although some don't (in those, everyone prays together, but men and women don't get shoulder-to-shoulder with each other). The women's prayer rooms are smaller only because fewer women come than men. (In the malls and market areas, the women's prayer rooms are substantially larger than the men's.)
- The mosque as a religious family, or "home" in society, doesn't function quite the same way as our churches. They are used for prayer, and that's pretty much it. The whole building is just a prayer room or two, an office for the imam, and some restrooms. Muslims go to whichever mosque is convenient to them at prayer time. They don't house AA meetings and classes and girl scouts, it's just for prayer.
Ok this post is way longer than I intended, just wanted to share a little about our experience.