Bericht über das Mittagsgebet in der Moschee

Visit of the Al-Omari Mosque for the noon prayer Dhour

The Religious Spot

As one of the oldest Mosques in Lebanon a long story builds up the historical background of Al-Omari mosque. First of all a legend locates the burial of John the Baptist precisely on the sight of the today’s mosque. From that time on this significant spot constantly marked a kind of communication point between God and his believers, no matter what their religious origin or affiliation was. Since Muslims as well as Christians attribute significance to the person of John the Baptist ˗ as a prophet or as the Baptist of Jesus Christ ˗ the spot was handed back and forth between the two congregations of believers several times. Eventually it turned into a place of practice of islam – submitting or surrendering to God. The byzantine basilica reappears now as an ordinary mosque, providing all the equipment and objects necessary to practice islam. The entrance is ruled by accommodations for the preparation of salat: shelves for the shoes, veils for the women, devices for ablution and a security system to guarantee a peaceful praying time. When you enter the building you can immediately guess the origins of this place. The building consists of three parts, known as the naves of a basilica, an ordinary apse and roman columns separating the naves. Yet the room conveys a unique Islamic atmosphere: the red ornamented carpets on the ground, the imposing chandeliers, the frescos at the ceiling with the 99 names of Allah, the wooden vault dating from the Ottoman era and last but of course not least the alternative orientation towards the mihrab or rather the ka‛ba and not like I am used to, to the apse harboring the altar. Since the wall of the building was lifted up before it was determined to be a place of islam, the michrab constitutes an independent element in the room, not being integrated in the wall. It includes a little pulpit, thetiniba, for the Imam to deliver his sermon, which reminds me quite a lot of the pulpit for the preacher in Christian churches. Nevertheless this spot conveys the impression of a genuine and authentic Islamic place of worship.

The Religious Acts

Having arrived in good time, I was given the chance to listen the prayer call, for the first time in my life in a “live broadcast”. Gradually the believers entered the mosque finding their individual place at the carpet. Those who arrived early already started with their private additional prayers. Not until the Imam started the first communal rak‛a the worshippers gathered in one long row behind him. The disabled ones were granted to execute the prayers with the help of the chair, what reflects the very humane orientated attitude of the Islamic praxis. Apparently there were no women joining the prayer, not even on their separated space.

As ed with the first Allahu akbar the hands of most of the prayers were raised to the ears, afterwards they took up different positions for the second part of the rak‛a, where the al-fatiha and a small sura or three aya of a bigger sura are recited. Unfortunately I can only guess the position of the prayer’s hands, but I assume most of them folded them before there lower body, yet some touched their hearts. During this second part you could hear the Imam whispering the particular verses of the Qu‛ran. Especially in the first rak‛a the prayers acted very simultaneously. The pace seemed to increase throughout the fourfolded prayer, so that the second rak‛a was alreadycarried out faster than the first. In general I would have expected the distinct parts to be much longer. Especially the reciting of the Qu‛ran part would have been more intense in my expectation. As the prayer went on the simultaneousness decreased slightly, at least in my reception. The prayers took their time to move on to the different units of the rak‛a, for example in case they had not finished their aye-reciting before the next Allahu akbar announced them to start bowing. If someone was late he could easily drop in, starting with the part, which was on at the moment of his arrival. All in all I had the impression that the prayers tried to be on time, and if they weren’t, hurried to take up position quickly in order to avoid missing a large part of the prayer.

At the end of the four mandatory rak‛a the Imam started a small invocation including the greeting of peace, if I recognized it out properly. After the obligatory prayer some went to take up their work again and few added some private additional prayers, each of them distributing to some private spot somewhere in the mosque. I recognized several people to locate themselves right in front of a wall, maybe in terms of avoiding to be disturbed or distracted from their submission to god.

The trappings and the conduct of the worshippers were in some way unusual for me. Mobile phones where used and the Imam wore some sort of baseball cap during the prayer. Yet it was a very solemn and also warm and friendly atmosphere. People welcomed and greeted each other warmly with hugging and kissing.

The dialogue with the sheikh afterwards was very interesting for me, inasmuch it gave us the chance to encounter a very young and representative delegate of the sunni community. Despite his widely varied education in Islamic law on the one hand and economics on the other hand, he turned out to be a very pious and uncomplex, maybe even onefold believer. He is absolutely positive about the validity of several traditions and biblical or rather Qu‛ranic stories without admitting any uncertainties (as for example he is totally sure of Ishmael being the sacrificed son and the Ka‛ba being the first place for Adam to pray). He was refreshingly direct and self-assure so that it was possible to catch his true convictions and opinions concerning various topics. What I could conclude out of his implementations is that Islamic theology for him is very simple and uncomplex, especially when it comes to theories of sin, soteriology and judgment or penitence. This reflects the purpose of Islamic Theology in his eyes: It is not merely developed to understand God, but to accompany and support human beings on their religious and moral path throughout life. Moreover he stressed that God can not be known by his abstract nature, but by his attributes he performs within the relation with his creation, which reveals the accentuation of the immanence of God rather than of his transcendence. “Sin” as he stated, “is a beautiful subject for Muslims.”

In general he seemed to be very convinced of his value concept, which enables him to distinguish between “good” and “bad” Muslims.

His explanation were also indicative for a certain attitude towards the religious other, as he expounded the theory of the Muslim identity implanted in every human being (even in the people of Israel) and the theory of the Old Testament, as well as the Gospels being merely a source of additional historical material rather than God’s word. Moreover these scriptures serve as viable material only on condition that their content is neutral and not contradictory to the Qu‛ranic revelation. Yet he admitted that every nation has its prophets and that it was only the deviation of the early scriptures that made the revelation of the Qu‛ran necessary.

A concept on which I could really agree with him is that a true believer (in his case a Muslim) is naturally and in general a “happy person”, because he is free to hand over all his concerns and sorrows about this world in the mercy and omniscience of Allahu akbar.