Going to a Mosque

In Cairo it is not common for women to go and pray in mosques, so I've never had the chance to go and pray or attend lectures or pray Taraweeh. The only time I have prayed in a mosque was during Umrah, and I fell in love with it. It's nice to pray at home sometimes, but the experience of praying in a mosque with other Muslims is an amazing one.

I know there are a lot of mosques in The Hague, but I'm too scared to go and check them out. What do I do when I go there? Do I just go inside and pray? Or should I talk to someone there? How do I find out about events, classes, Taraweeh? I know these sound like stupid questions but I really have no idea since I've never been to a mosque before!

I've also heard about bad experiences in mosques, for example women forming cliques etc, which kind of makes me not want to go. I'm scared that everyone will be really judgmental or unfriendly, and that it'll be a negative experience.

On the other hand, I've had a really lonely Ramadan so far (eating iftar alone is not fun!) so it would be really nice to meet some Muslims. I'm starting to notice a barrier between people I've met so far and me, in that they all love to party and drink, and I don't. So maybe meeting other Muslims means I'll find a social environment that suits me better, inshallah.

What was your experience of going to a mosque for the first time? Did you go alone?
Does anyone have any advice on what I should do?

Turkish vs. Moroccan

Two of the biggest immigrant groups in Holland are the Turks and the Moroccans, so they form the bulk of the Muslim population here. Inshallah I'll start looking for a mosque to start praying at soon, and one thing I know is that there are Turkish mosques and Moroccan mosques. Coming from Cairo, I find this separation strange. From what I know, there are mosques for Muslims - from anywhere. It's weird that here you have a Moroccan mosque and a Turkish mosque. Of course that doesn't mean they only allow Moroccans/Turks in, but I'm sure it's rare to find a Moroccan in a Turkish mosque.



I guess I should try and find a Moroccan mosque, since the imam would speak Arabic. That's another thing I need to check - do the imams speak Dutch or Arabic/Turkish? If they do the sermons in Dutch, a lot of older immigrants probably won't understand it (although if you move to Holland you should definitely learn the language). On the other hand if they do it in Arabic/Turkish, a lot of the younger Muslims won't understand it, since they've grown up speaking and knowing Dutch. So I wonder how they balance that here.



There are also usually cultural centres attached to mosques, which would be very interesting to check out. I wonder if they have classes and language lessons. I've been living by myself here in the Hague for 3 days now and I'm already really lonely! I can't imagine how hard Ramadan is going to be since I'll be having iftar by myself without my family for the first time ever. I really hope to meet lots of nice Muslims here. I feel like that would motivate me to become a better Muslim and it would also just feel nice to have people who understand why you pray 5 times a day or to break the fast with.

Inshallah I'll meet people soon.

What about where you guys live? Are mosques separated by nationality? Or are they multi-cultural? What language are the sermons in? Does this mean only certain segments of the Muslims population attend?

Nature & God's Amazing Creation

I've been in Holland for over 2 weeks now, I still can't get over how beautiful everything is. There are animals everywhere, green fields, and lots of flowers. I feel like I'm constantly reminded of how amazing God's creation is. Everything is just perfect. The feeling of seeing beautiful landscapes is definitely something you don't get often in Cairo. Here are some pics of the area around my grandfather's house. I will be moving to The Hague soon inshallah, and even there you still manage to see lots of nature, which is amazing for a city.

Cows - my favourite animals after Shetland ponies

These cute little sheep are right next door to where I live

Shetland ponies - the cutest animals on earth!

Practicing Islam

As I was getting ready to move to Holland a few weeks ago, I began thinking about how my relationship with God/Islam would change, or if it would change at all. Would it be more difficult to be a Muslim in a non-Muslim country? What would Dutch Muslims be like? Would I have a more distant relationship with God, or would it become closer?

Now I can see that it's neither easier nor harder. Not because Holland is the ideal place to be a Muslim, but because Egypt wasn't the easiest place to be a Muslim in either. In Egypt you get judged by other Muslims - constantly. In Holland you get judged by non-Muslims - sometimes. Which is worse? Muslims judging you, when they know it is wrong to judge and when they know that everyone has their own PRIVATE relationship with God, or non-Muslims judging you, who just haven't made the effort to understand Islam better? Hmm, I'd say option number 1.

One thing I do miss though is hearing the adhaan. I knew I'd really miss that. I think the next time I hear it I'm going to cry or something. Another thing I miss is having lots of fellow Muslims to talk to about Islam, something that makes me feel a lot closer to God.

I feel like my connection to God has gotten slightly less closer, simply because I'm not surrounded by Muslims here and because there aren't reminders everywhere, like mosques, the adhaan, or Qur'ans. However I think by reading the Qur'an more often and thinking about God more, I can make the connection even stronger, inshallah. I hope I'll be able to meet Muslims here soon, I'm sure that'll help, and it should also make Ramadan better. I remember the connection being strongest during Umrah, because your life literally changes to revolve around God. Now that was amazing, but sadly not practical in the long-term.

How do you feel - do you think it would be easier to be a Muslim in a non-Muslim country, or in a Muslim one?

Ramadan

Okay so I just realized how hard Ramadan is going to be here in Holland. Right now Fajr is at 3:30 am, and Maghrib is at 10:00 pm. I checked the times for last year in Ramadan and they were 2:30 am for Fajr and 9:30 pm for Maghrib...that's 19 hours! Yeah it won't be hot and everything but still...that's a loooong time!

Last year in Cairo during Ramadan it was from 4:00 am till 6:00 pm...but then again it was really hot. I guess it's better to have a longer period that's cold than a shorter one that's hot, since thirst is a lot worse than hunger.

Inshallah it won't be too bad!

Hopefully I'll find a mosque I can go to. In Cairo most women don't go to the mosque to pray so I didn't experience it in Cairo, but I loved praying all prayers at the mosque in Madinah and Makkah, so I'm going to try do that here too.

Local Islam

So I've been in Holland for a week now, and I've been talking to my family and friends here a lot about Islam in Holland and how Muslims are percieved. Right now I'm staying in a small town near the German border, with a very small population. I thought it'd be interesting to find out how Muslims who live here are seen by non-Muslim Dutch people, and wheher they integrate fully or not.

I began by asking my cousin if there were a lot of Muslims here. She said there were. Then I asked whether people accepted them or not. She said most people didn't like them but it was mostly because Muslims didn't make any effort to integrate: they didn't learn Dutch, or work, or go to Dutch schools. They also tended to form gangs. Then I asked her if she knew any Muslims personally and she said no. Hmmm!

Then I found out that the town mosque had been burnt down after 9/11...as in, on purpose. After I recovered from the shock of realizing I was in a town where a mosque had been burnt down, I asked whether they had found out who'd done it. She said they hadn't. Anyway, after that the Muslims who live here put together money to build a new mosque. I asked different people what the mosque was like and when I got back "amazing", "huge", and "out of place", I started to expect a mosque similar to the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah. Instead I found this:

I mean ít's nice and everything but 1) it's not huge; and 2) it's not out of place. It barely looks like classical Islamic architecture. I thought it was just another building until I saw the minarets. I'm not saying all this because I think it should look more Islamic or it should be bigger - I just find it interesting that a lot of people exaggerated its size and appearance. Someone even asked me why there needs to be a mosque in this town.

Anyway, my grandfather had pretty much the same views as my cousin: Muslims here don't try to integrate and they cause a lot of problems.

I then talked to my aunt, who had the exact opposite view. She said there weren't a lot of Muslims in this town, and that most of them were really nice people. She said every religion has good and bad people. She also said that most Muslims DO integrate and speak Dutch fluently.

Yesterday I also asked a friend of mine all these questions. She also said that most Muslims do integrate and are nice people, and that many Dutch people are just ignorant about Islam.

From my personal experiences here so far, I've noticed that most foreign-looking people tend to be speaking Dutch (in a natural Dutch accent). They dress like everyone else, talk like everyone else, and act like everyone else. The only difference is in appearance. So what are Dutch people complaining about? Why do they think that MOST Muslims don't want to integrate or "be part of society"? How did Holland go from being the most open-minded and tolerant society 10 years ago to being one of the most anti-Islamic countries in Europe? Will things get worse, or will people eventually stop panicking about Muslims and accept that Muslims are normal Dutch people who are here to stay?