Attending a Mosque During a Religious Services

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Religious Service at a Mosque
Preconceptions of Non-Muslims
Psychological Reactions
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Religious services in a mosque require strict observation of worship ethics and etiquette. Worship in a mosque entails subtle religious practices that are hard for a non-Muslim to practice. The unique and hard religious practices in the Mosque limit effective interaction of Muslims and non-Muslims causing more interreligious suspicion and doubt. The interreligious suspicion and doubt emanate from the preconceptions and misconceptions, which negatively affects interreligious interaction.

There are some preconceptions and misconceptions about Muslim religious practices during their worship services that lead non-Muslims to perceive Islamic religion as hostile and inhospitable. The multicultural and religious interactions have psychological implications to both the Muslims and the non-Muslims. This essay will explore the religious services in a mosque, preconceptions and psychological interaction of Muslims and non-Muslims.

Religious Service at a Mosque

As aforementioned, the religious services at the mosque are unique and strange to a non-Muslim. Muslims do not allow anybody to enter their Mosque unless one is a Muslim or identified and given permission because the mosque is the most holy place and strangers who do not profess Islamic faith should not defile it by entering into it.

The Quran prescribes standard etiquette and worship practices for the Muslims worldwide; therefore, there is no ambiguity in their worship due to the geographical location. The standard etiquette prescribes dressing code and worship practices, which must be followed strictly.

The non-Muslims are required to learn the etiquette because if they do not follow them in the mosque, they are deemed to profane the mosque intentionally and this creates many fears to non-Muslims. If a non-Muslim has to enter a mosque, he/she has to make formal request and upon approval, he/she can only enter when prayers are not session to be guided through the process of worship.

Muslims have religious services at specific times of the day. Before entering into the mosque, Muslims are required to be in their dress code and to remove their shoes at the entrance. After removing their shoes, they proceed to the washing place where they wash their feet, hands and feet prior to praying. Inside the mosque there are no seats, instead a soft carpet is spread on the floor unlike in churches where the congregation use seats.

The prayers of Muslims are recited while kneeling and bowing down facing Mecca followed by the Quran reading of the day then other routine prayer recitations follow. Conventionally, a male leads the worship service because women are strictly forbidden to enter mosque during their menstruation period, as they are unclean and unfit to worship. Smoking, eating, drinking and switch-on phones are forbidden in the mosque for they interfere with the worship service.

Preconceptions of Non-Muslims

The non-Muslims have many of preconceptions and misconceptions about Islamic religion and Muslims. There is misconception that associates Muslims with terrorists, violence and extremists. “This is the biggest misconception in the Islam; no doubt resulting from the constant stereotyping and bashing the media gives Islam” (Ahmad, 2008, p. 22).

The media has stereotyped the Islamic religion and Muslims as violent, extremists and terrorists in the way they report events. For, terrorists are referred as Islamic terrorists, while instance countries are referred as Islamic countries but rarely do we have Christian countries. The Islamic religion has been associated with the vices in the society but in real sense, Islam is a peace-loving religion, which stands for total submission to God.

Another preconception is that the Islamic religion oppresses women. The teachings of the Quran do not support the oppression of women as it teaches that, “the most perfect in faith amongst believers is he who is best in manner and kindest to his wife” (Ahmad, 2008, p. 23).

The non-Muslims perceive the Islamic women as oppressed lot due to their lifestyles and dress code. The Quran requires both men and women to wear decent and modesty clothes that depict dignity to the people around at any instance; regrettably, many non-Muslims perceive this as oppression towards women. Freedom of wearing any dress code is against the Islamic teachings, and this does not amount to women oppression, as many would want to believe.

There are other misconceptions concerning the way of worship and spread of Islamic religion. Majority of non-Muslims often presume that Muslims do not worship God the Creator, but they worship a lesser god, Allah. Nevertheless, this misconception arises from sheer ignorance.

Allah is an Arabic word for God the Creator. “Muslims believe that Allah’s sovereignty is to be acknowledged in worship and in the pledge to obey His teaching and commandments, conveyed through His messengers and prophets who were sent at various times and in many places throughout history” (Ahmad, 2008, p .23).

Christians too believe in the same God but the differences exist on matters concerning the prophets that were sent by God. In their case, Muslims believe that Allah send Mohammed. Other misconception about Muslims is that they spread their faith through jihad war, all are Arabs, men are polygamous and Mohammed is their God. With all these misconceptions, a non-Muslim will definitely fear to enter a mosque or relate with Muslims.

Psychological Reactions

Muslims believe that their religion requires total submission to God and they guard this belief zealously. The mosque also is the most a sacred place of worship where non-Muslims should not enter, as they will profane the holy place. On the other hand, non-Muslims harbor many misconceptions about Muslims.

Therefore, if a Muslim encounters non-Muslim in a mosque during the course of worship, psychological mechanism of evaluation apprehension ensues. According to Myer (2008), “…when two or more people who, for longer than a few moments , interact with and influence one another and perceive one another as [us]” (p. 262).

This happens in an interactive process of social loafing, facilitation and deindividuation. Social loafing occurs when the non-Muslim receives guidance through the process of worship, while social facilitation occurs when evaluation apprehension increases on the part of Muslims. In this case, they perceive that non-Muslims are watching their way of worship.

Myer (2008) asserts that, “deindividuation represents a breakdown in evaluation apprehension because of decrease in self-consciousness, and an increase in group consciousness that can lead to more disinhibited behavior” (p. 263). The balance in social loafing, facilitation and deindividuation will give effective social interaction in the worship service.

Conclusion

Multicultural and religious misconceptions and preconceptions affect the effective interaction between people. The misconceptions and preconceptions of the Muslims and their religion limit the effective interaction of Muslims and non-Muslims in the mosque. For the worship service to be interactive despite barriers of misconceptions and preconceptions, the evaluation apprehension process requires reduced social loafing and increased social facilitation and deindividuation.

References

Ahmad, H. (2008). Misconceptions about Islam. The Islamic Journal, 6(3), 20-27. Print.

Myers, D. (2008). Social Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill.

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