Shared
Way of Life

Now we all know that within each and every muslim's way of life,

with all the differences that make that muslim an individual,

that daily life is punctuated by certain specific actions

that unify them with the community,

the 'Ibadat,

those times when we stop whatever else we are doing,

to show our surrender.

Moments of Sala are personal,

between God and you

but the form by which to worship

has been handed to you from the community,

making you one with the group.

So a prayer made alone may be profound,

but it is a very different experience to prayer made as a group.

The individual point becomes a line that extends to encircle the Ka'aba,

that bends and bows as one.

And the type of group

will also have its effect on the nature of that experience

whether an intimate gathering of family and friends

or set in the vast reaches of a large central mosque,

shoulder to shoulder,

the line linking you with God

joins the line linking you with humankind.

Immediately after arriving in Yathrib,

the Messenger set out the space for his mosque,

a place aligned with the Ka'aba

to be kept clean for communal prayer,

for the community to pray as one in the Sala.

So over the course of history,

muslims have made their mosques following his example

making a community place

for washing standing bowing and sajda

Qur'an reading and recitation,

all taught and practiced in a virtually identical way,

the same the whole world over.

This similarity of religious practice is quite extraordinary

considering that the community consists of a fifth of the world's population

and has got here through nearly fifteen hundred years of history,

surviving all and any arguments and inter-factional fights along the way.

But of course there is more to worship than the 'Ibadat,

and many local mosques will have their own traditional ways

gatherings to express praise and thanks

and worship for their Liege.

But being centres of education and welfare

mosques were always about more than the Sala

so it was only natural that the large communal space of mosques

would be used for a variety of celebrations and mournings

passed down through different traditions,

shared rhythms of remembrance

and examples of eloquence in the language of prayer or in praise of the Messenger.

So prayer will always be personal

an opening of heart and mind to God

a private experience

a secret worship

that can survive in hostile surroundings,

but at the same time

wherever muslims live in peaceful community, you will find a mosque.

And at any of those mosques around the earth,

a muslim can join their Jumm'a prayers,

or pop in for a quick Sala.

Small differences and strangeness may be enough for challenge,

but when it comes down to it,

if a believer wants to enter God's house

to pray in the way of the Messenger,

most muslims would balk at the thought of facing God

after turning them away.

The way of remembrance

that is at the heart of the muslim way of life

is shared by all muslims,

a unifying memory of an extraordinary event

the sending down of the Message

and a communal memory of the way that the Messenger worshipped.