I recently had the unique opportunity to go and attend a Muslim Mosque. I arrived at the Mosque on a rainy morning for Sunday prayer. When I arrived at the Mosque I had to remove my shoes once inside. After placing my shoes on a wooden shelf, I followed two other female members into the Mosque. They then showed me to an empty balcony with theatre like chairs that overlooked the main floor of the Mosque. I found the golden colored carpet to be beautiful, until I noticed the brown brass railing of the balcony. As I looked over the balcony, I noticed male members sitting down on the floor below me. Next to them was a closed red curtain.
As the attendance of the Mosque got higher and after a moment of silence was asked to be taken. A announced he would now begin the first prayer. To me the sounded like a song with much harmony. After the prayer began, the room again falls to silence as more men quietly came in. A few minutes later, about 100 men fill the floor and the second prayer started to begin. I listened to the announcements and the sermon as more men came in until there were almost 200. The sermon was delivered quickly and abruptly, but I gathered the point: “Don't harm others, even with words.” As the sermon continued, I quickly observed the crowd below me. They were all men; no women had come onto the balcony or main floor. The men were dressed in all kinds of clothes. Some in cultural clothing, others in suit and tie but most were dressed casual in jeans and a T-shirt. There were even different races: The majority was of course Muslim and the rest, were made up of African Americans, Asians, and I even noticed a few were Caucasian.
I only noticed about 5 or 6 women and they were all in full body dresses and a full face scarf only reveling their eyes. I feel that Muslim woman have to hide themselves so they are not taken advantage of. It seems that they not attractive enough to be viewed by the men. It might be biast but I also feel that Muslim women might feel so attractive that the men can’t control themselves. The balcony provided me with a great view of hundreds of men. In all honesty I think that Muslim women are stronger than the men, and that they possess more self-control over them. I had had the opportunity to speak to a Muslim woman and she told me that she wants to be accepted for her mind and personality, not her body, and that that is why she wears the full face scarf. She also said they have to keep their hair and body hidden because if the men see them, they will be instantly attracted and view them as a sexual object. I respect that some women are perfectly fine with these conditions, and they want to follow their tradition and don't mind being out of the core of society. However, if I ever become a Muslim, my inner or my outer feminist would not be able to be exposed.
There were a few intermissions between services were people would chat and have tea, and then the program would start up again. At the end of all sermons one person was chosen to read a story. Actually it was more of a singing of the story, which was about Allah, who they were celebrating, entering India from exile. During the story an offering of of dried fruits came around. At the end of the story everyone rises and moves toward the center of the circle to give an offering to Allah. A gold plate with a lit candle and flower petals is passed around. When it came to me I was told to do what the others did, which was