First trip to the Masjid

As in another post, COVID was a thing. Pretty rubbish all round really, but it did mean that I put off attending the Masjid for a long time. When I did eventually go, I contacted and asked to look around my local one, both because I wanted to go, but also as a possible professional connection too.

You might notice that there are some aesthetically beautiful Masjids in the world, but not all of them need to look like that, many are just a normal looking building.

I had booked and attended, eventually met with a calm man who showed me around and asked about me, I would guess to start some light touch Dawah (the word used to encouraging others to Islam). When I explained that I had actually already reverted I was met with the most common of responses I get when letting another Muslim know, they appear so so pleased, it is really nice. He offered to teach me to pray, but I thanked and assured him I was past that step. He invited me to attend the Friday Jummah (like a service) and offered to get me enrolled in the children's Arabic class. I didn't go to this one, but did imagine myself surrounded by young children all reading and reciting whilst I was struggling to name the first few letters of the alphabet.

Was all nice, he was nice, seemed nice

Skip to my first attendance for the sake of praying. I knew roughly what Jummah prayer was like. It was kinda like a normal Duhr daytime prayer, right?

Well sort of. It takes the place of it and is actually shorter. And it has a 'Khutbah' (talk or sermon) that goes with it. I knew to be quiet when the Iman (person leading the Khutbah) was speaking, and I already knew how to pray, so all set as far as I knew.

There were a few things that ended up stressing me out about this first visit though. Then also some of my other early visits, like my first Tarawhih (the night prayers you do in Ramadan). Things that were no one's fault exactly, but demonstrated I needed to be firm in what I knew and firm in how I acted.

I noticed that as I was praying people didn't do it exactly like me, which is ok, I knew this might be a thing. But there were quite a lot of little things that I noticed. Certain movements or actions or words spoken. Likewise some words actions and movements 'not' done or spoken.

Particularly when it came to Tarawhih at my local Masjid there were lots of things that felt different.

I remember one time after a prayer of some sort the man at the front said ok now you can do Sunnah (Sunnah actions are ones you should strive to do, technically optional, but good). And people proceeded to pray extra. So I joined. I was planning to do 2 Rakah (or units) or prayer then stop, but noticed that everyone around me continued towards 4. So I conformed.

Immediately after this I worried to myself 'i shouldn't have done that, I should only do what I know to be right' and it stuck with me how easy it would be to fall into making small changes, innovation it is often referred to as. Innovation is very very serious in Islam, so I try to be careful.

(I looked it up after, and with 2 or 4 were acceptable in this case)

As for all the little differences I would just have to look them up to know what to do. Sometimes I even looked them up then and there, depending on the situation, so I knew how to act. It's slightly odd because in my post about learning on my own during COVID, I mention not having community. But here is an example of needing to be careful.

Then again, I have been to other masjids, where they essentially did things how I do, so it does vary.

I would say one of the biggest things that made it hard, was that the whole thing had no English in it. It was Arabic for the necessary parts, and then Urdu for the rest of it. So I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Of course this made it harder to know what I was supposed to be doing. It also means that, though I benefit good deeds for attending, I lose learning by not being able to understand anything.

This put me off so much. I actually didn't go back for a good while. It made me feel like I had no options, the nearest Masjid that actually stays open after this one would be about a 50 mins drive, each way, in good traffic. So not something I could get to easily. It felt like I was less of a part of it all.

I later found out the importance of attending the Jummah on Friday, so attend even despite the language. I also learnt that they do an English one later than the one I attended. I often can't make it due to work, so Urdu it is hah.

It was quite an adjustment, and I really needed to be vigilant. To be confident in what I knew and stick to it.