Visiting the National Mosque
For what it's worth, I am from SE Asia and have known about the existence of Islam for as long as I can remember. I used to live near a Mosque in Singapore, and would hear the Friday noon prayer broadcast over a sound system in the mosque. All it meant to me was that the end of the week was here since classes in my elementary school would always end around that time. Someone later explained that it was the Call to Prayer, not the actual prayer session.But shame on me, to have lived in a multicultural society and then taken for granted other ethnic groups, and to have lived all 18 years in Singapore with a sheltered view of the world. So when Jana (trainee from Germany) proposed the idea of visiting the National Mosque 2 weekends ago, I jumped on it out of curiousity and because I wanted to take a break from studying.
Getting there was a nightmare in itself since we had no clue where the mosque was located and it was HOT that Sunday. In addition, we had a crazy party that lasted from 11pm to 5am the previous night and both of us were trying to recover from that.
Well, we got to the LRT station, and could SEE the mosque but couldn't find a path that would lead to it. So after crossing highways and scaling barricades, we finally found outselves standing outside the old train station in KL. Ehh! Not quite where we wanted to go.
But all the muddling around for an hour was worth it because the National Mosque - otherwise known as Masjid Negara was HUGE! I can only imagine what it's like when there are thousands of people praying in the mosque. (to bad we can't see that, tourists aren't allowed at prayer time).
We had to put on the blue head scarves and a coat that covered us from head to toe. Even though I understood the need for decency, both of us had actually tried to cover up and were melting under the layers of cloth. I thought Jana and I looked like convent girls. I used to wear a blue shapeless pinafore in my convent girl's school days. I just wonder why the male tourists don't have to put this on since they're showing skin too! Hurm...not fair.
4 Comments:
You'd make a lovely Muslim wife.
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Oh and to answer your last question, it's becoz women's bare skin is like "uncovered meat"... and men are like street animals according to Sheikh Hilali.
Erm...I don't think that shade of blue is my color...
Hmm! "Men are like street animals" -- I like that simile, it's quite appropriate for some of the guys I've encountered here in Malaysia.
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