My Experience at a Local Mosque
Recently I went to service at a local Muslim Mosque. A couple weeks ago I was asked to participate in a debate between myself and a Muslim Imam. I went to the service and then talked with the Imam afterwards. We are still working out the details for the debate, but I thought I would submit a post regarding my experience at the mosque. The following comments could sound like I don’t see a difference between Islam and Christianity. I assure you there are vitally important differences, but this post is about the experience not the theology.
I brought my friend Brian with me to the mosque. Brian is preparing for the mission field and regularly has interactions with Muslims. After we arrived and met our contact we entered the building where we immediately took off our shoes. There is a part of me that like the idea of taking shoes off. It reminded me of when Moses approached the burning bush and God asked him to remove his shoe because he was on holy ground. From the moment you walk in the door there is a seriousness, an expectation that you are to encounter Allah.
We continued into the mosque, got a little tour, and talked about the debate a little bit. Of course the women and the men worshiped apart from each other. It felt weird to leave and realize that I had not seen a woman the entire time. That was brought to my attention by our contact who explained the correct way to leave the building so that we would not come in contact with the women.
The service itself had some similarities to attending church as well as some significant differences. One of the differences was that we sat on the floor for the entire service. That was very uncomfortable which got me to thinking once again about the commitment made to attend service. I don’t know that I have ever complained about the chairs at our church, but after that experience, I never will. I some times get the sense that evangelicals in America have become a little soft. I don’t necessarily think comfortable chairs make us soft, but I do wonder what would happen if we had to sacrifice them.
The service consisted of a call to prayer, prayer, a message, and prayer. No music, no cool video, no frills and the place was packed and they had multiple services.
Apart from the message being only half English and a few very important theological differences the message sounded pretty similar to what you might hear in an evangelical church. The message was about marriage and following Allah’s principles to do it.
Perhaps the most uncomfortable part of the experience was not the floor, but the prayers at the end. The Imam began to lead everyone in prayer which included standing up, bowing, kneeling, and so on. There was only one problem, they were praying to Allah. So Brian and I simply stood while everyone else was bowing and praying to Allah. I kept thinking about Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego. The uncomfortable part was when the two of us were standing while everyone else in the room was bowing and praying.
Fortunately the Muslims were very good hosts and even sat with us for a good hour after the service to answer our questions.
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