Blog 1 - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, or Religion
Before coming to Morocco, I didn't really know anything about the religion of Islam especially not that it would play such a large role in the daily lives of an entire country. The word "Islam" is supported by 2 concepts: duty owned to God and rights owned to fellow human beings without any regard to their race or religion (Al Islam, 2021). On the very first day, we went into the Hassan II Mosque and got a very interesting explanation of what every [practicing] Muslim must do in order to complete their daily prayers: they must enter a purification state by washing their heads, hands/arms, and legs/feet and they can decide whether to do this in their homes or in the Mosque as well as face in the direction of Mecca. What I also see as we have driven through Morocco is that you can find a smaller Mosque or small prayer rooms with a washing area for people to be able to do their prayers even if they are out and about. For example, as we passed through Chefchaouen, I saw within the Medina a small prayer room and a washing area across from it as well as the call to prayer by the Imam. There are established times for the 5 prayers: Fajir - just before sunrise, Zuhr - midday, 'Asr - after noon, Maghrib - immediately after sunset, and the Isha - when dusk has finally disappeared (Al Islam, 2026).
In the United States, the majority claim to be Christians and most of the time they claim that they are actively practicing that faith, but I wonder how many would still actually claim to be practicing if we were required to do all of this every day? As a Catholic, my faith is very important to me and most of what I tend to do in my life is because of what I was taught as a child from my parents and teachers, and because of that I have always felt a sense of belonging anywhere I go. In public school, we had teachers that would pray with us before lunch and that would openly speak about their faith and encourage us to participate in the activities having to do with their faith; but why was any other religion not included in this? I have never seen a prayer room or even a small clean space and washing area for Muslims in America to do their prayer, in fact, I hear about how older people make it more difficult for them to complete their prayers. Why should Christianity hold a more significant place than any other?
In an article of Muslims in North America it states that after the 9/11 attack in the US, many [American] Muslims experienced discrimination and violence directed at them and their families, especially when boarding planes. There was also a major spike in Islamophobia during the 2016 elections when a travel ban was proposed on visitors and refugees of war (Muslims in North America | EBSC, 2015).
From everything I am learning as move across Morocco, the more overlap I see in these 2 religions. We are not as different as we think ourselves to be and as leaders, I believe it is our job to be able to really meet the expectation of being a country with total religious freedom and help others practice their faith safely.
Sources:
Timings for Prayers. (2026). Islam Ahmadiyya. https://www.alislam.org/book/salat/timings-for-prayers/
Al Islam. (2021, January 6).
25 Interesting Facts You Should Know about Islam. Islam Ahmadiyya. https://www.alislam.org/articles/25-interesting-facts-you-should-know-about-islam/
Muslims in North America | EBSCO. (2015). EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | Www.ebsco.com. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/religion-and-philosophy/muslims-north-america
ReplyDeleteThe fact that communities across Morocco are built around making that accessible to people on the go says a lot about how seriously the faith is woven into everyday life. Your comparison between how Christianity is treated in American public spaces versus how Islam is often pushed to the margins really is crazy to think about, because how many schools in the U.S. have a teacher leading a Christian prayer before lunch, yet there's not a single designated space for a Muslim student to do something that is literally a religious requirement for them? That double standard is something a lot of us probably walk past every day without even noticing it. The connection you drew between the two faiths was also something I appreciated, because from what you described, the core values of Islam, devotion, community, and respect for others regardless of background, sounds a lot more familiar than most Americans would probably admit. It makes the Islamophobia that spiked after 9/11 and during the 2016 election feel even more frustrating when you realize how much of it was rooted in fear of something people never actually took the time to understand. I was thinking, after being immersed in Morocco and seeing Islam practiced so openly and peacefully, do you think the problem in America is mostly that people are just genuinely uneducated about what Islam actually is, or do you think there's a more intentional resistance to giving it the same respect that Christianity gets, and what do you think would actually change that?