Interesting Places You’ve Prayed
I sat there watching a flask of green liquid attached to a strange looking contraption. Still amazed, despite seeing the same thing before already, I stared curiously as the solvent in the green potion bubbled and crept up into a glass tube filled with streaming water, only for the gas to liquefy again and drop slowly back into the flask. It was a pretty cool way to heat up a reaction to make it go faster without letting the solvent fly away as gas. I was basically just trying to make the green stuff turn purple, but the whole process took a few hours. I turned away and looked at the time – and remembered I had to pray ‘asr – so I went to my TA.
“Hey the stuff is over there bubbling, I have to go pray.”
“You have to go what?”
“I have to go pray.”
“Ohh okay.”
“Can I pray somewhere in here?”
“Yeah sure anywhere!”
Easy enough! I don’t know why telling people you have to pray is a hard thing for Muslims to do sometimes. If you’re mentally sane and past the age of puberty, there’s no excuse for not missing salah! I picked a spot in the lab behind the UV-VIS machine so I would be out of people’s way. I prayed near the window facing the observatory where people searched through the nearest heaven looking for answers as I stood there in remembrance of the answers I’ve already been given.
Praying in a lab-coat became a regular thing (hey it sorta looks like a thobe) and nobody really came up and asked or commented about it, but I’m sure it was an interesting sight for them to see.
That’s just my little contribution, and it’s not necessarily the most interesting place I’ve prayed (I’ll share more in the comments as I remember) – but this is an open topic, sharing is caring! Cool pictures are also welcome!
Where are some memorable places you’ve established the salah?
| Print article | This entry was posted by Sabour Al-Kandari on December 13, 2010 at 3:32 am, and is filed under Islamic Reminders. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
No trackbacks yet.
The Muslim’s Guide to Fajr Salah: Tips and Techniques
about 1 year ago - 10 comments
Author: Yaman Khattab Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem, The Fajr (or dawn) salah can be one of the most difficult prayers for practicing Muslims to uphold for the obvious reason that it typically falls at a time when most of us are probably in our deepest stages of sleep and comfort. While some may find it surprisingly
Reading Week [Open Thread]!
about 1 year ago - 39 comments
Author: Sabour Al-Kandari Asalaamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatu, OPEN THREAD! This means you comment, we read, you comment again, and we either pick a fight or learn something. Reading week is upon us! Of course, it goes without saying that any sort of reading is blasphemy for the next 10 days, but since this isn’t school
Loading ...
about 1 year ago
Refluxing? lol,I hate them they’re draining.
SubhanAllah, just yes-day my friend wanted to pray next to a UV-Vis in the lab! But someone mentioned ‘safety’ issues (chemicals on the floor etc-), so she went to the prayer room.
Ok, I remember on a Sunday,praying Maghrib in a deserted corridor. And once on an airport floor.
However the strangest one was praying in a bus driving round a mountain upwards, where the barriers on the side of the road were incomplete(!). It was when we reached a high altitude,clouds outside the window and with blocked ears, that we prayed.<<beat that!
about 1 year ago
I think safety is a legitimate concern but my lab is probably not the safest place in the world anyway – I’ve inhaled a lot of things I probably shouldn’t have.
Airport prayers are pretty cool, especially when they have those special prayer places just for us. Catching salah with some fellow Muslim travelers and getting acquainted with people who you may never see again has a nice brotherhood feel to it.
As for praying on death mountain above the clouds, that’s gotta do wonders for khushoo.
about 1 year ago
I remember last year when I was in Makkah, for Hajj and we stayed at one place where masjid was overflowed (subhanAllah) and people started making rows outside. Then it came to a point when people were forced to pray on the street and block all the traffic….. the amazing thing was …. just throw your janamaz anywhere and start praying, some time even without the rug or sharing your rug with the adjacent ones and doing your sajood on the asphalt caring less of hygiene.
On the other occasions when we were running late to catch the prayer in Haram, hear the first takbir! and start praying on the road and amazingly rows were formed in blink of an eye…..
Imagine every business closed and everyone is heading towards Masjid…….MashAllah……and all the places become available for Sala’h…….
about 1 year ago
Mash’Allah, may Allah accept your Hajj!
When I went for Umrah I loved seeing the same thing. It’s so cool how everyone knows the drill there and the rows just start forming spontaneously.
One thing though, the floor can get really hot sometimes, so the sujood gets pretty epic if you don’t have something put down.
about 1 year ago
^Just to add my insight.
One thing I noticed in Makkah and Madinah is no matter what people are doing..no matter how busy they are..shopping..eating..they all run to perform salah..and just that sight of people rushiiiing to the Haram is amazing Alhamdulillah. and people not worrying about their open stalls and stores is amazing once again!
May we all get the reward for performing our salah in various places all to worship our Lord.. Ameen
about 1 year ago
Yeah it’s really cool how you can visually see and feel the Haram as the focal point for the entire city. And with a little imagination you can zoom out and imagine how really it’s the focal point for every Muslim in the world!
Beauty of the Qiblah!
about 1 year ago
masha’Allah! may each crazy spot you’ve prayed testify in your favour infront of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala on judgement day, ameen.
the most interesting place i’ve prayed would probably have to be in the parking lot of a run down service station in the middle of nowhere (farmville aka london, ontario). had a crowd of spectators by the time i was done, standing at a safe distance away from me ofcourse. i felt like a rare species of some animal on the discovery channel “oh my jeezuz, wouldja look at that!! crazy mozlem doin jeehad!”
about 1 year ago
Small towns are da’wah central – everyone knows each other by name! I would totally enjoy living in one for a while (or maybe traveling through them across Canada).
You know, most of the anti-Muslim bigotry comes from people who have never really met Muslims, so there’s a lot of potential for serious accomplishments there.
about 1 year ago
Has to be the room I use at work. It’s where the breakers, phone lines and the huge transformer are. Sometimes when we have too much stock I have to sit on the transformer itself because there is absolutely no space (unless you count the sales floor). It’s sooo small and totally weird, but there’s this weird element of quiet and privacy in there O.o
about 1 year ago
Is that safe lol? You could maybe file a hazardous-workplace-complaint thing and get some reasonable accommodation.
First time I went to Hamdi’s for food there was a sign that said “Masjid Hamdi’s” or something like that. I thought it was pretty cool that a restaurant was also a masjid – then I went inside and it turned out to be like a closet -_-’. It took a while to figure out how to straighten the lines but we got it eventually, alhamdulillah.
about 1 year ago
LOL yea it’s safe XD – It’s usually only that bad during X-Mas Alhamdulillah so just for a short amount of time
about 1 year ago
The places I have prayed are actually ‘Not So Interesting’ places…YET .. but insh’Allah will be soon. I was shopping with family @ No Frills with Maghrib approaching fast and I had totally neglected Asr. (This No frills being my favorite No Frills since child hood because of its awesome dollar store :D ) So on the way to the car in the underground parking lot, I had no choice but to pull out my families picnic mat and lay it out down in a far corner to avoid getting run over while praying of course… (then again..:P ). With the fresh fumes of gasoline in the air, Alhamdulillah I was able to make Asr in an underground parking lot :D (hope i guessed North, East correctly).
about 1 year ago
You should have prayed inside next to the halal food section – the store manager would have thanked you for the free advertising and everyone woulda been like “hey so that’s what makes it halal?” LOL.
Gotta carry a compass or have some sort of boy scout training to find the qiblah. I have a prayer mat I got from Makkah that has a compass on it, I try to take it with me if I know I’m gonna be praying somewhere weird. It’s awesome for indirect da’wah cuz it looks pretty cool. =o
about 1 year ago
The most interesting place I’ve prayed at must have been the time when I was at wonderland with my cousins and brothers. It was prayer time and we went looking for a legitimate place to pray, we decided to pray right infront of the entrance of Wonderland. haha it was a funny experience. Lol Good times :D.
about 1 year ago
Lol another spot that came to mind that I just had to share and thought was very interesting was Casino Rama at Niagra Falls lmao! Not inside the casion though… and dont ask how I ended up there; and no I did not gamble or had anything to do with the Casino. Again pulled out the matt in their parking lot and prayed Isha. I dont know why but it seems as if parking lots and garages are hot spots for me ! ;D which parking lot will I be in next.
P.S I was actually in the harbour front parking lot today praying Asr LOL
about 1 year ago
LOL Casino Rama! Yeah apparently parking isn’t free there…
By the way you’re Nasir not Shafiq, I’m going to fix that for you.
And next spot is going to be Riverdale park insh’Allah ;). Epic sledding coming.
about 1 year ago
Hmmm where to start?! Prayed Fajr in a gas station parking lot in Sault Ste. Marie with a bunch of truck drivers and rednecks eyeing us down (Y). Prayed next to a river in New Brunswick while cooking rice on stones (yumm). Prayed Maghrib in the parking lot of church in a national park in Nova Scotia :D. Prayed on top of the mountain at Lake Louise in Banff, Alberta (awesome view!). Anddddddd prayed in the parking lot of a plaza in Montreal where a non-Muslim woman asked us to make dua for the Bloc Quebecois LOL…but we never did cuz we love Canada<3.
about 1 year ago
woww mash’Allah those are awesome, we got ourselves an Ibn Battuta here =P.
LOL @ the Bloc Quebecois
about 1 year ago
Remember when we were on a tall hill and we had to pray maghrib so we prayed at the top of the big hill with no rug or mat. Freezing but it was worth it. I find that jokes.
about 1 year ago
Haha good times. The snow is back, you know what that means ;D
about 1 year ago
Wow, Masha’Allah this is amazing :) May Allah reward us all for this, Ameen. I remember once we were at a halaal Muslim restaurant and it was Maghrib: unfortunately the restaurant didn’t have a real “prayer” room so me and my parents prayed in their L-shaped closet near the back lol tight still, but good times :)
about 1 year ago
Ameen to the du’a.
That restaurant sounds familiar, was it Hamdi’s? Or maybe all the Muslim owned restaurants have that going on lol.
about 1 year ago
I prayed in a lot in random shopping malls/bazaars in Pakistan. My grandma asks the shop owner if we can pray inside their shops and some of them don’t mind at all but others aren’t so comfortable with it :( and you still get the random stares from people passing by. ahh but oh well…
OOH and i found this interesting video today on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMKGhnpTTPI&feature=player_embedded
about 1 year ago
Really, in Pakistan too? I never would have thought that.
Jazak’Allah khair for sharing the video that’s pretty cool!
about 12 months ago
-on the grass of the parking lot of woodbine mall
-in the hallway of the schulich school of business
-between the book shelves of my high school library
-in my high school computer lab
-in a Nigerian restaurant in front of two men who were eating their meals
-on a downtown sidewalk in front of a fancy restaurant
-in a boat’s closet while on a cruise
And I plan on adding to my list :)
Alhamdulillah who made the entire earth a masjid for the Muslims.
about 8 months ago
Mash’Allah, seems nothing can keep the brothers and sisters from saleh.
Not listing all, but some recent examples:
- On the roof between Vari Hall and the Scot Religious Centre, joining the jama’ah for magrib salah
- At Osgoode in that corridor where everyone prays
- In the sand at the Bluffs, before the tide came in
- At Flemo Park on the tall grass
@Quadri: Alhamdullilah, another year at York and that list will definitely increase. We can even perform salah while on top of a camel or horse (Muwatta as narrated by Imam Shaybani, Book 1:77)
about 8 months ago
Going with the flow:
-On an airport floor (it was the first time I prayed on a plain floor with nothing to put my head on lol)
-Between the bookshelves in Scott Library (this was the majority of my 1st year at york
-In a corner in Eaton Center
-In a corner in yorkdale across the theatres (I felt bad because we were praying jamaat and some janitors were actually trying to go by to put their stuff away but we were fully blocking them lol, by Allah though they kindly waited for us to finish :) )
-Around Masjid Al Haram, especially the street 100 meters away from it cause we were late lol but subhanAllah the lines stretched so far out :)
I think the next place I shall make a goal to pray is on the roof of one of the buildings near the student center, BSB maybe :)