JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, AND ISLAM

RELIGIOUS VISIT PAPER

Field Information
Friday May 1st, 2015, I visited the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids at 2999 1st
Ave S.W. Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404. I arrived at 12:35pm, the Jumuah
service began at 12:45pm. I do not find the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids to
be dominated by Sunni nor Shia Muslims.
Preliminary Placing Information
Arriving 10 minutes early allowed me to observe the large white and blue
building where the Muslims gathered. The first item noticed is the
playground outside, this is seen from the road at is not found in most
religions. When pulling into the parking lot the simple white building with two
blue rounded and pointed tops are seen second. Walking into double doors
you are greeted by crossroads; left is to the prayer room and watching room
for visitors, straight is bathrooms and a small room with chairs and a speaker
for woman to worship when pray room is full, and right leads to the social
hall. I did not have the privilege to view the social hall. I was directed to the
visiting room. The visiting room contains a table and chairs, red carpet,
ceiling to floor windows with blinds opening one wall, another wall with a
large window looking straight into the pray room and a few bookshelves. The

Cassaralyn Doolin
Islam Visit Paper
Spring 2015

pray/worship room was a much larger room but contained less it seemed.
The worship room had red carpet with straight white lines from wall to wall,
all pointed towards one directions (for visitors this would be northwest if
viewing through the visitors window). Also, the worship room had bare white
walls, only four to five chairs in the far back and at the corner of the room
there was a wooden stand with two wooden arches slightly to the left and
behind it. In the hallway outside of the visiting and worship rooms there was
shoe racks lined against the wall.
I was greeted with a hello and asked to remove my shoes, after being
directed to the visiting room. The emptiness of the worship room clarifies the
religious reviews upon not idealizing any but Allah. Has Muslims piled into
the room it because hard to see many differences. Each man removed his
shoes, set on the lines with one another, and repeated the same pray ritual
before sitting next to the next man. As the 65+ men removed their shoes
you could briefly see their ethnic background, mixed social class and various
ages ranging from early 20s to 60s there were 3 to 4 younger boys ages 4-6
sitting with their fathers. The woman are allowed to worship with the men
they are simply placed in the back of the room to protect the temptations of
others. The other room is for the women during over-crowded worship times.
Description of Activity
Beginning the service was a recorded song repeating the name Allah, the
words were spoken in Arabic. A younger man, dressed in a dark red collared2

Cassaralyn Doolin
Islam Visit Paper
Spring 2015

robe, stood at the front of the room repeat Allah the one and only as the
men joined. After asking the men to straighten the lines they set upon, he
began to speak in both Arabic and English paraphrasing form the Quran. He
spoke about the importance of following the word and keeping focus on the
Qurans teaching. He gave examples of how to live out the words and
continued to speak in both languages. The speaker repeated Allah the one
and only there more times, then the worshipers began to sing together in
Arabic. By 1:15pm, all the men stood straight within the lines and began
praying together repeating the following steps, one step at a time the
repeating for the following times: Standing with arms folded (twice),
Standing with hands placed on the knees and head down (twice), and bent
over on the hands and knees on the floor with the head touching the floor
(four times). Again all together. Following the service they left the worship
room and proceeded to put their shoes back on. As they formed somewhat of
a line, the speaker held a cash box in front of the visiting room doorway, as
members placed money in the box.
Analysis
Form my observation this Islamic Center and the Muslims who attended this
worship have one objective in their worship service. The objective is simply
to come together as equals and praise the one and only Allah, without
separation of age, race, gender ( women in another room when the worship
room is crowded), social class or anything else that is distracting to others
3

Cassaralyn Doolin
Islam Visit Paper
Spring 2015

during worship times to his followers. This includes the absence of pictures,
stands, stained glass windows, symbols, or additional rituals like communion
found in other religions such as Christianity. This is well observed by the
simple appearance from the outside of the Islamic Center being white with
little blue to the empty worship room filled with nothing but followers and
lines pointing in one unified direction. They follow a clear and easy routine of
meeting together and remembering to follow the Quran and its teaching
and only its teaching not allowing the outside world or others mislead them
from their god. As a visitor, I felt out of place in the beginning, this may be
due to the Christian background I have. My Baptist church has decorations
everywhere from stained glass windows in the worship room, pews, and a
large numbers of Reverends, Ministers, and a Pastor to leader the worship
service, where Muslims have none of the procedures, but are stripped bare in
sense. Even removing my shoes and seeing the common clothing of the
Muslims had an equaling effect, where Christians prefer to where their best
clothing and bring everything into the worship room including bibles, purses,
hats, shoes, phones, and anything else we feel is needed to be comfortable.
By the end of the Islamic Centers service I fully understood the meaning of
absence of distractions. Truly have a strong value and found respect for the
comment Muslims have for Allah.