AdlanKhalidi

Friday Prayers at IIUM SHAS Mosque

Salam. Performing Friday Prayers in IIUM Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah (SHAS) Mosque is a unique experience for me. In this entry, I’d like to share few things that I have experienced for the past 4 years.

Multi-racial Muslims under one roof

For the first time, I was very surprised to see people from all over the world in one mosque. There are Arabs, Africans, Asians, Europeans and many more. They also believes in different mazhab because there are slight differences in the way the perform prayers.

Friday Sermon (Khutbah Jumaat)

Most of the first sermon will be delivered in Arabic language. In the second sermon, the khatib will translate it into English or Malay language. There was one Chinese khatib who deliver the sermon in Mandarin once.

Actually, this is the problem because I’m not very good in Arabic. I only can understand basic and common Arabic terms. So, most of the time, I will fall asleep for the whole sermon. But if the khatib uses English, I’ll try to listen and focus.

Prof. Dato Dr. Sano Last Sermon

My friend was asking me to help her taking a picture of khutbah because she is doing conservation design thesis for minbar. So, fortunately, on Friday 28th February , I manage to take a picture of Prof Sano while delivering his sermon. I’ve tried to understand what he was saying because he looks very sad and almost cried. Then in the second khutbah, he conclude his khutbah in English. He mentioned about brotherhood in Islam is the vital aspect in the success of Muslim. It was his last sermon because Prof Sano has become a Minister of Religious Affairs in Republic of Guinea. Click here for the khutbah review.

The ladies also perform Friday prayers

When I’ve tried to search about Prof Sano, I’ve landed on Mdm Martinelli’s blog. I’m impressed with her because she also perform the Friday prayers. SHAS Mosque has provide second floor for the ladies. From my observation, most of them are oversea students. Its hard to see Malay female students performing Friday prayers. I wonder why they refuses to do so. I just want her to experience the Friday sermon and prayer. I hate it when girls condemning guys for sleeping during the sermon. Why don’t experience it yourself?

After prayer: Solat Sunat and Assembly

Just like in other mosques, usually there will be Solat Jenazah Ghaib and Solat Hajat after the Friday prayer. Besides that, some students will gather outside the mosque for a peaceful assembly. Most of the time, I don’t join the assembly because I was praying at the front rows (between 10-15 rows). I was surprised when listening to the shouts from the crowd, proclaim the takbir and others. The picture above was taken few months ago, where students showing their support for Palestine during the Gaza carnage. Credits to FBI for the picture.

Using Multimedia for Sermon

Last week, the Friday sermon was aided with powerpoint presentation. But the screen was too small compared to the size of the mosque. I hope in the future IIUM SHAS mosque can implement the usage of multimedia to deliver sermon which can solve the problem of language barrier. A lot of mosque in Malaysia has already set up LCD projector but why we don’t have it here in IIUM? Some of the mosque that I’ve visited with this feature are Masjid Wilayah Jalan Duta, Masjid Muadz Bin Jabal Setiawangsa and Masjid UPM. Do you know other mosque that has this feature too?

Credits to Idhambeady for the mosque picture.

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