Peace Be Upon You
by Mohamed Algarf ~ September 25th, 2010. Filed under: UBC.When Hisham Soliman chanted the words ‘Allah-u Akbar’ last Friday, over a 100 people fell to their knees and bowed down towards the direction of Mecca.
The group consisted mostly of men, around ten women and one young toddler who stared inquisitively at the people as their foreheads touched the floor.The young boy watched, fidgeted and then copied the movements he saw around him as he kneeled by his father’s side.
The worshipers were gathered in the Lower Lounge of the International House in UBC to observe the Muslim Friday prayer. The weekly prayers have been taking place for over five years and are organized by the Muslim Student Association in UBC.
Starting at around 1 p.m. people started rushing down the stairs which lead from the main floor to the lounge.
They shook the rain off of their coats and umbrellas and those with backpacks flung them on the tables in the hallway between the washrooms and the lounge. When they saw fellow Muslims they greeted them with the Islamic greeting “as-salam alaykoum”- meaning peace be upon you.
Most then hurried to the washroom to perform the ritual ablutions required before prayer. They then took off their shoes and stepped onto the carpets which had been placed earlier on the lounge’s floor by the first people to arrive.
Sneakers, leather shoes, rain-boots and hundreds of other shoes lay scattered in the hallway as more people hurried in.
At 1:15 p.m. Soliman, a PhD candidate in Pharmacology, addressed the crowd in a khutba– the sermon that precedes the prayer. Every time he said the name of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, the crowd broke into a collective whisper and said peace be upon him.
As the prayers started, a couple entered the main floor of the building while pushing a stroller. An International Peer Advisor volunteered to watch their baby so that they could pray. The mother, her hair covered in a purple veil, waved at the her little girl and then quickened her step to the washroom.
When the prayer ended, the group squeezed themselves into the narrow hallway and bumped into each other as they put on their shoes. Outside the building people greeted each other each other in a multitude of languages.
“How is the family?” a bearded man asked another in Arabic. Two young students wearing backpacks discussed the weather and complained about their assignment load. A group of students chattered away in Bengali.
“I have to rush to class now, see you next week,” said another student as he waved back to the crowd.
