Peninsula Muslim Association (Mountain View)

I couldn't figure whether it was because it was a Saturday night or if more Muslims have moved to the area, but there were easily 3x as many Muslims here tonight than when I visited last year.  Otherwise, not much else has changed.

The rug store is still one of the best venues in which I've prayed taraweeh.  The rugs stacked on the floor and hanging from the wall create quite a cozy environment.  For the kids, of which today there were many, it was an indoor playground.  The ones not quite so well-disciplined were hopping from one stack to another, which looked like a lot of fun but also an accident waiting to happen.  I'm surprised the rug store owner also didn't raise a ruckus; who knows where those kids' feet had been?

The hafiz leading the prayer is quite well known in the Bay Area.  He's been all over the Bay Area and teaches very popular classes about Islam and Arabic at the local community colleges.  I also understand that he lives in the Fremont area, which means he's sacrificing a lot of his time by committing to lead taraweeh every day in Mountain View.  I'm having a hard enough time sustaining this project because all the driving is cutting into time I could be resting for work the next day; the temptation to give up and attend the Richmond mosque five minutes away for my nightly prayers is quite strong.  And I'm just an observer!  In addition to the long commute, this hafiz has to prepare to lead 20 rakats each and every night by himself.  I really don't know all too many people who'd be willing to do that, especially for a non-local mosque.  I tip my imaginary hat to him.

The only reason it's hard to focus on the prayer in this mosque is because the congregation faces El Camino Real, which was surprisingly busy considering it was a Saturday night in Mountain View (guess there's more going on there than I'd previously imagined).  The cars coming and going created quite the backdrop and it's unlike anything I've ever seen before in a mosque.  I know this is a makeshift prayer area, but it may not be a bad idea for masajid to build windows in the front instead of solid walls.  It may take a bit more discipline to focus on the prayer and not be distracted by the stars, cars, skunks or whatever you can find in the neighborhood, but anyone walking past the mosque would instantly be exposed to Islamic practice and at the very least wonder what was going on in there, if not someday come inside to actually find out.

Plus hey, glass is prettier than drywall; just look at the Crystal Cathedral.

The Rug Store, located near "Downtown" Mountain View

Folks praying in the rug store.  Traffic can be seen in the background.

Date Visited: August 6, 2011

Location:
805 El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94040

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Good

Size of congregation: 20

Capacity of center: 50

Parking: Street

Mihrab: No

Minbar: No

Shoe shelves: This is what floors are for

Building: A rug store.  At least this means they didn't have to lay down any carpet

Friendliness towards women: Not enough there to really judge, but they were praying in the same room, I suppose, which is something

Friendliness of congregation: High

Peninsula Muslim Association

Date visited: August 15, 2010

Location: Mountain View, CA
805 W El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94040

Number of imams: 1

Size of congregation: TINY. Maybe 15 people showed up.

Capacity of center: The prayer area was more than sufficient for that tiny congregation

Parking: A bitch. It's located on El Camino Real, which means you're relegated to finding street parking on one of the busiest commercial streets in the Bay Area.

Mihrab: Ha, nope.

Minbar: Nope!

Shoe shelves: NOPE. Had to ditch my shoes at the entrance.

Building: It's a rug store, no joke. Plenty of people walking by on El Camino were giving us strange looks, probably wondering what the hell those terrorists were doing in a closed business.

Friendliness towards women: There was one woman in attendance, and unlike Saratoga, where there were no barriers, she was forced to pray behind a barrier. I didn't even see her till I was leaving.

Friendliness of congregation: Very. It's so small they can't be rude.

Please tell me if there's any categories on which you'd like me to report.

I think was my favorite taraweeh to date. I don't even know how people would find it before the magic of the interwebs because of its unique location. When I first saw that it was being held in "The Rug Store" I didn't know what to expect.

When I got there, the first thing I saw was the strip of land on which the rug store is located is for sale. Blame the bad economy, but the point is, there's a chance that the PMA will have to find a new location for its taraweeh. Too bad, too, because it was AWESOME.

I had no idea of what to do once I got there. All the other businesses were closed, even the Peet's, so I could do nothing except wait outside the store. Eventually, someone showed up at 9:35, the first clue which lead me to believe that the crowd here would pale in comparison to all the other crowds I'd seen.

I was correct, maybe ten people showed up at the start of the prayer and at its peak 15 people were present. However, it was such an intimate setting I couldn't help but to enjoy myself. It was almost like being transported back in time; this is what taraweeh in the Bay Area probably looked like in the 1970s.

I did again get asked what I was doing there, but not because they recognized me for who I was; they only had to hear that I was from Santa Clara to query me. I only appreciate MCA more when I'm away with it; I never truly appreciate how large that community is till I see tiny congregations like the one I saw in Mountain View.

No tag-teaming here, but I was kind of surprised to see that the guy leading the prayer was recording himself on camera. Why? Did he think his technique could get better by looking at video of himself?

There was one woman there, an 80-year-old grandma, and they made her pray behind a thick wooden barrier. Come on, guys, is that really necessary? One reason why some women in MCA advocated for a permanent barrier was so they could breastfeed their children if need be. Trust me, I don't think any woman's going to want to breastfeed her child in the rug store.