Friday Jummah

As I mentioned in a previous post, Duke Chapel is currently sponsoring an exhibit called Families of Abraham. In conjunction with this photo display, Duke's Faith Council coordinated a number of events to facilitate interfaith experiences and dialogues. This past friday I attended Friday Jummah--the traditional Friday Muslim worship. I have quite a few friends here at school who are practicing Muslims and out of curiosity, I'd always wanted to go. Afterall, I'd never really been exposed to Muslim culture. Despite my interest, I didn't make it to Jummah until the other day. I guess, in part, despite the "open invitation to everyone" that so many campus groups at Duke proclaim, it can be intimidating to just show up without knowing anybody or it catering specifically to new-comers. So with this in mind and knowing that this week's was part of this coordinated effort I made it a priority to attend. In all, I had a really fabulous time and learned a ton.

I walked in around 12:45 and introduced myself to a number of people. My next-door neighbor was there and so was a kid who lived in my dorm last year. I helped several of the girls stuff "care packs" for the local homeless shelter--which is apparently weekly effort. Most weeks, I learned, they fill the bags with food items, but this week they were donating personal care items. It turns out that many Muslim Student Associations (MSAs) across the country do this as a service project each week.

I found two things about this initiative really interesting:
1) Duke doesn't seem to have a lot of regular service projects. Groups do food drives periodically or other one-time charitable acts, but with the exception of a Habitat for Humanity Club, I don't know of anyone else who does weekly service.
2) A lot of faith based groups (not just at Duke--but in general) give back to their immediate communities. That is, synagogues are involved with the local Jewish nursing home or Jewish Family Services. Or Christian groups go on missions. [As I write this, it occurs to me that there are many instances where a faith based group gathers for a local Race for the Cure or other such events.] But still, I was struck by the fact that Duke's MSA was giving to the local Durham community. This wasn't about religion. To bring politics into it, it wasn't a pro-Palestine/anti-Israel group. It was just about community. Humanity. And I thought that was beautiful.

While I was helping to put the bags together, some individuals made their way to the sheets on the ground (in worship, Muslims remove their shoes and are on a sheet or other type of mat). They were engaging in individual prayer before the group service began. When they finished, the community gathered on sheets. Though the genders were separated (without a formal structure; in this case the men sat in front of the women, but it was pointed out that that was arbitrary and the women often sit in front of the men) they (men with men and women with women) sat side-by-side very closely, which is part of their community worship traditions. I sat with them.

To begin the community worship the Imam delivered a sermon. Following the sermon, everyone rose to begin the prayers. There is no prayerbook, though, as everyone recites everything from memory. The prayers start by reciting the beginning of the Koran (which I learned is not in chronological order and therefore, the story of Abraham, Hagaar and Ishmael is not at the beginning like it is in the Torah/Old Testament). During worship there are ritual bows and other symbolic gestures. The one I found most inspiring was when they would put their thumbs by their ears with their palms up. In doing this they are symbolically casting off anything that is on their mind that is not related to Allah while they mentally do the same. They ended their prayers by whispering salaam over each shoulder. In this way they wished their neighbors peace in their lives.

After everyone was finished praying we gathered over pizza for a discussion about Muslim traditions and religious practices. Much of what I learned at this discussion is integrated into the above story. Needless to say, one woman raised a question about gender equity. During this conversation, I also learned the significance of Friday Jummah. I knew that practicing Muslims prayed five times a day. Most of these times are done individually. I did not know that Fridays, however, are a special community wide gathering for prayer. In fact, Jummah, just means "prayer." It also means something else, but I forget (I'll try to find out and post it).

The final thing I'll share is how one student approached the question "why?" The woman who asked about gender differences kept asking "why?" When the Imam did not answer her question as she would have liked she asked it again, putting even more emphasis on wanting to know "why" something was so. One student finally explained to her that the question "why" isn't a question that Muslims should ask, because they know the answer is always "it is Allah's will." He continued to say that that is not to say that Muslims do not question things. The questions they ask, however, are different. Instead of "why?" the question is "how do we know?" After this they should ask "what is the wisdom?" The essence of the questions boil down to "why," but I really liked the approach of these two questions more than the simple "why."