Ever seen Dirty Harry, starring Clint Eastwood? It provides a fascinating glimpse into 1970s
San Francisco. I was enraptured by how
much San Francisco has changed since then…but also by the ways in which it has
not. For example, North Beach is still
the crack spot if you’re looking to be entreated by scumbags to visit theaters
to view performances by girls who have made incredibly poor life
decisions. Additionally, in the movie,
the serial murderer foolish enough to upset the titular character kills someone
in, as the movie describes it, “the black neighborhood.”
I
bounced after witr because I had zero interest in doing dhikr in the dark and I
can’t lie, I was a little worried about the health of my car. However, I found my car unmolested and was
soon on my way back to the East Bay. It
could be that all of the crime in Bayview-Hunter’s Point is compressed into a
couple city blocks, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone spending the time to find
out if that’s true.
Date Visited: August 15, 2012
Location:
1411 Thomas Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94124
Tag-team taraweeh: Nope
Qirat: Good
Size of congregation: 30-40
Capacity of center: 50-60
Parking: Street, and I saw lots of double-parking in front of the masjid. Meter maids don't come here, I reckon.
Mihrab: No
Minbar: Yes
Shoe shelves: Yes
Building: A converted house on a residential block. The windows and doors here are armed to the teeth to prevent break-ins, as are most of the buildings on the block.
Friendliness towards women: Women have their own section, and judging by the number of kids running around, this is a family masjid.
Friendliness of congregation: Sufis are nice folks. Never met one I didn't like.
Said black neighborhood is Bayview-Hunter’s Point. It suffers from a staggering amount of
poverty and is probably San Francisco’s most dangerous neighborhood. It’s ironic, really, because it’s in the
shadow of Candlestick Park, home of the San Francisco 49ers. For eight days a year, thousands of people
stream in and out of the neighborhood, oblivious to the misery and danger which
surrounds them as they chow down on $10 hot dogs.
In any case, I chose to visit a small, off-the-radar mosque
in this neighborhood. According to my preliminary
research, this masjid is a Sufi masjid run by Desis, which is funny because the
neighborhood to this day is still mostly black or Latino.
It’s a shame this neighborhood has such a bad rap,
really. The streets are wide, the land
is relatively flat, and the houses looked to be a decent size. Sure, from the freeway you have to drive
through some sketchy industrial blocks, but what city doesn’t have a sketchy
industrial neighborhood? I didn’t slip
into a false sense of security, though, and didn’t stop looking for parking
till I found a spot within sight of the masjid.
The masjid looks very festive and welcoming from the
outside. Bright lights illuminate a
large banner, and while there were iron bars on the windows, the door was open,
thus making the masjid seem welcoming.
There was a flurry of activity going on, and children were even playing
near the entrance without fear of what lay beyond the threshold.
When I arrived, minutes before Isha, the community was
cleaning up after iftar. When I’d called
earlier, the gentleman I spoke to invited me to iftar, but I declined, because
what was I going to do in Bayview, of all places, after iftar?
Gender segregation in this community is interesting. Men and women use the same entrance, and
women walk through the men’s section to get to their own, which is shielded by
cubicle walls. However, during prayers,
the community sets up a wall of sheets so women can walk to their section
without being seen by any men. Thank God
that we men don’t have to be distracted by the horrid sight of women while
praying…
It being a Sufi masjid, there was naturally quite a bit of
dhikr and remembrance of Allah and the Prophet.
Again, I saw some practices which made me a little out-of-place, but
enough of last night was familiar enough for it to not be a wash.
Taraweeh last night was express-lane taraweeh: 10 ayats or
less. I gathered that the congregation
had already finished the Quran the night before because the imam was not going
in order when reciting surahs during prayer.
Despite that, taraweeh still took a fair amount of time because of the
dhikr involved.
Date Visited: August 15, 2012
Location:
1411 Thomas Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94124
Tag-team taraweeh: Nope
Qirat: Good
Size of congregation: 30-40
Capacity of center: 50-60
Parking: Street, and I saw lots of double-parking in front of the masjid. Meter maids don't come here, I reckon.
Mihrab: No
Minbar: Yes
Shoe shelves: Yes
Building: A converted house on a residential block. The windows and doors here are armed to the teeth to prevent break-ins, as are most of the buildings on the block.
Friendliness towards women: Women have their own section, and judging by the number of kids running around, this is a family masjid.
Friendliness of congregation: Sufis are nice folks. Never met one I didn't like.
The building. It was a stark contrast to dark houses which lined the streets around it.
