Masjid Al-Iman (Oakland, Alameda County, CA)

I arrived at this masjid around 9:30, or around when the time for Isha begins.  Ain't nobody was there except a handful of friendly sufis, who offered me tea and engaged me in conversation.  People began trickling in around 9:45, people bearing lots of food items.  Last night was the night of the 27th of Ramadan, the night when Muslims (except for Shia Bhai) believe is most likely the night the first verses of the Quran were revealed.  The mood was celebratory and everyone seemed to be in a good mood.

This mosque isn't open regularly; the imam lives in El Sobrante and it's too difficult for him to come down here.  However, they have been praying taraweeh here every night, and striving to complete the Quran in recitation.  The imam was going to complete the Quran last night, which is another reason why everyone was in such a jovial mood.

Thanks to my earliness, I was able to observe the community in their natural habitat.  Mosques don't get much more Sufi than this, I tell you what (weren't no coffin in the corner, though).  The gender interaction was so high a conservative could afford to send his son to college with only his astaghfirullah jar (in which he deposits a quarter every time he says astaghfirullah).  Women are an active part of this community, and they weren't afraid to steer the direction of the dhikr from the back of the room.  An older woman was also not afraid of lighting incense and going from person-to-person blowing the smoke all over them.  Good thing I don't live with my parents or else I'd have a hard time explaining why I smell like hookah coming back from "the masjid."

Folks who know me know I'm not a dhikr-stickler.  I just wasn't raised doing it, so some of it just seems bizarre to me.  For example, last night, I, for the first time ever, engaged in salat-ut-tasbeeh, where the congregation does salat but also tasbeeh during the salat.  There was also singing dhikr, where the congregation sang songs praising Allah and the Prophet.  Of all the nights for me to forget my geetar at home...

This is a special masjid, and it was a special night.  I want to thank the community for letting me sharing it with them, especially the Old Boyz who decided that witr and dhikr would be Better with the Lights Off.

The congregation gearing up to pray rakats 9-20 of taraweeh.  The women were to the right of this picture.  I didn't take their picture because only a scumbag would take a picture of non-mahram hijabis.

Date Visited: August 14, 2012

Location:
5625 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94608

Tag-team taraweeh: No, the imam led all 20, and most of the dhikr

Qirat: Good

Size of congregation: 20-30

Capacity of center: 50

Parking: Street. The lot in the back was locked.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes, two!

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: A small storefront facility on Shattuck not far from the Berkeley border.  If you're not looking for it, you'd never notice it.

Friendliness towards women: Extremely friendly towards women.  We need more mosques like this one.

Friendliness of congregation: Sufis are the friendliest and most genial people I've ever met.

Masjidul Waritheen (Oakland, Alameda County, CA)

The Raiders lost last night, and it made me a little nervous because you never know how Raider fans will react to a loss, even if it's the preseason.

Thankfully, nothing happened, and not near this masjid on 47th Avenue.  I arrived well after dark minutes before isha time and was a little lost because it seemed that the masjid was closed.  The building desolate, but the doors were open, and I could hear activity going on upstairs in the school area.  While I was mulling what to do, I heard Arabic being recited across the street.  The community prays taraweeh in the center across the street, and not the former church building.

This is an African-American community, which meant quite a few people in the congregation were either new to Islam, or learning more about their faith.  Following Isha there was a short lecture on one of the lesser known companions of the Prophet, but the imam made sure to create parallels between his story and the community.  It was fitting that the time period was the early days of Islam, because then the imam made a comparison between the early Muslims and Muslims living in a predominantly non-Muslim community like Oakland.

Taraweeh was short and sweet, with dhikr after every four rakats.  Following taraweeh, the community once again engaged in dhikr, and all the prayers were wrapped up by 10:15.

The thought crossed my mind that when I retire from doing this 30 mosques project, I should just attend an African-American masjid every night, because they do everything so much quicker, which appeals to the 9-5er in me.  However, the more I think about it, the less I think I would be encouraged to do so.  Ramadan is all about pushing yourself to the limit, which of course the congregation was doing last night.  However, for a person like me, raised reciting Arabic, reading the Quran and praying taraweeh from the early age of 7, it wasn't as spiritually challenging because I'm used to praying taraweeh for 60 minutes or more.  While obviously it wouldn't be haram for me to spend Ramadan in an African-American masjid, I have a feeling it would be disliked because I'd gain so much more from a more established masjid geared towards folks with a more comprehensive understanding of Islam.  It's something for me to chew on.

The main building of the masjid.  This is also where the school is housed.

Date Visited: August 13, 2012

Location:
1652 47th Avenue
Oakland, CA 94601

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Good

Size of congregation: 15-20

Capacity of center: 50-75

Parking: Street

Mihrab: No

Minbar: No

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: The main building is a converted church.  The room in which they pray is a community center across the street.  It's also where they hold jummah prayers.

Friendliness towards women: Women have an active role in this community.

Friendliness of congregation: Everyone was very friendly and welcoming.

Masjid Al-Salam (Oakland, Alameda County, CA)

As I was parking my car last night, a cruiser sped down 7th Street in the opposite direction, siren screaming and lights ablaze.  It stopped a block away from the masjid and police officers got out to take care of something (or someone).  If I were an Oakland native, I would have gotten out my phone to record the incident, because sometimes the Oakland Police Department is a little overzealous when protecting and serving the people and needs YouTube to keep it honest.

Welcome to West Oakland.  The masjid is a shot-putter's throw away from the Port of Oakland.  It ain't the nicest area.  However, the congregation has developed a foolproof method of keeping their masjid safe:

Oh, you've double-parked on city streets when going to pray?  That's cute.  Homies here quadruple-park.

Some of the kids I saw are from West Oakland, born and raised.  Last night, they were on the playground where they spend most of their days.  They were chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool, shootin' some b-ball outside of the school (which the mosque is on Sundays).

To keep these kids safe from guys up to no good, the congregation uses their vehicles to serve as a protective barrier between the outside and the cul-de-sac on which this mosque is located.  They also do this because many do not have relatives in Bel Air to whom they could send their boys if they get into one little fight.

The masjid is predominantly Arab.  I do believe I was the only Desi in the congregation last night.  This also was clearly not a Hanafi mosque, given the loud chorus of "ameen" which followed the recitation of Surah Fatiha.  Such a practice would be frowned upon in a Desi masjid, who believe congregants should be seen and not heard.

I'm always surprised by the size of the congregation here.  Seriously, you don't think "Arab" when you think "Oakland."  Judging by the quality and luxuriousness of some cars I saw parked on the street, I'm willing to bet a lot of the congregation doesn't live in Oakland, let alone West Oakland.  Drawn by cheap property values, they have come to this neighborhood to leave their mark.

I do believe it's their positive mark on the neighborhood that the police lets them get away with blockading an entire city block with their cars.  If this masjid wasn't respected in this community, you can bet Oakland meter maids would have a field day every night of Ramadan.  No, they take care of Oakland, so Oakland takes care of them.

Date Visited: August 12, 2012

Location:
1005 7th Street
Oakland, CA

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Good, one of the better ones I've heard.  A little too high-pitched to be crowned the king of the Bay Area, though.

Size of congregation: 50-60

Capacity of center: 75-100

Parking: All street.  For God's sake, do not park in the cul-de-sac or else you'll be blocked in worse than at a Gujarti mosque in Mill Valley.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yeah.  They've built a nice little lectern.

Shoe shelves: Yes, not enough.  Someone put his shoes on top of my flippy-floppies, which is gross, because nobody knows what the heck you've walked on when you've walked on the sidewalks of Oakland.

Building: Two-story affair located on one of the major avenue in Oakland.  Minutes from the West Oakland BART station.

Friendliness towards women: Women have their own space to pray.

Friendliness of congregation: If you're Arab, you'll feel more welcome than I did last night.  That said, it's open to everyone.

Lighthouse Mosque (Oakland, Alameda County, CA)

I’m a huge fan of this masjid.  It’s small, intimate, the people are ever-so-friendly--it truly is a community mosque.  It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but step inside and you’ll feel the warmth.

This mosque is located in a neighborhood which has seen better days.  It’s practically buttressed against a freeway and the buildings which surround it are shabby.  The sidewalks are cracked, the streets are lined with tar because the city won’t repave them and most of the vegetation growing in the neighborhood is wild and unkempt.

Despite this, Imam Zaid has built a masjid which is extremely popular with the locals and non-locals alike.  Folks drive here from miles around, eschewing the convenience of a local mosque to share in the collective experience that is praying at Lighthouse Mosque.

Isha prayer last night started at 9:45, a little less than 90 minutes after sunset.  These days, one of the eternal debates in Ramadan is whether mosques should give their congregants enough time to eat after a long day of fasting or allow their congregants to get home to sleep a little earlier after a long night of taraweeh.  Start earlier, get home earlier.  Start later, and you don’t have to scarf down dinner to get to the masjid on time.  It’s a debate that is unlikely to be concluded anytime soon, and both sides have merit.

Isha and taraweeh were led last night by a young man who did a fine job.  He appeared to be a budding hafiz whose knowledge of the Quran isn’t as concrete as that of a grizzled veteran.  I tip my hat to his backup, a non-hafiz in the congregation who was following along in his own copy of the Quran.  The backup, despite not being a hafiz, still needed the laser-sharp focus of a hafiz to catch mistakes and help out the imam when he was stuck.

One of the nicest aspects of taraweeh here is that after 8 rakats, Imam Zaid Shakir gives a short lecture on an aspect of Islam.  Last night, he used a book on hadith as a guide to educate (or remind) the congregation about the importance of generosity, especially in Ramadan.  It was fabulous, and I was awed by the fact that I was literally sitting at the feet of a man who can pack a convention center when speaking at a conference.  If you want some personal time with Imam Zaid, come to Lighthouse.

But don’t you all come at once!  The masjid is admittedly very small and it was probably at fire-code capacity last night.  I’m unsure of whether or not they plan on purchasing or renting a larger facility, though I doubt it.  I’ve been coming here on-and-off for the past 5 years and over time they’ve made major improvements to the mosque.  Given how much money they’ve invested on interior design, I doubt this masjid is going anywhere.


Date Visited: August 5, 2012

Location:
4606 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way
Oakland, CA 94609

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Very nice

Size of congregation: 25-30

Capacity of center: 30-40

Parking: Only street.  Fair warning, this is Club territory.

Mihrab: No

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: A former retail location located on a relatively quiet section of one of Oakland's major thoroughfares.

Friendliness towards women: Women are welcome here and encouraged to participate in the programs.

Friendliness of congregation: There's very few mosques in the Yay with a nicer congregation.

Masjid Tasbeeh (Oakland, Alameda County, CA)

My friends ask me (sometimes with mild concern) how I find some of the mosques I do.  I have my sources, but sometimes my sources aren't reliable and I'm genuinely concerned I'll arrive at an address to find a non-existent masjid.  This isn't a big deal if I'm in suburbia, but it is something to ponder when traveling to urbia, as I did last night.

I rolled with a friend last night for (mostly psychic) protection.  Figured it'd be better for two brown men to be looking for a masjid in East Oakland instead of just one.  We parked our cars and my friend warned me I was footing the bill if his was broken into.  Based on the ferocious bars on all the storefront windows, it looked like his fears were somewhat justified.

Thankfully, we found the address, and there were Muslims inside.  They looked at us with suspicion.  Crap, I thought, they think we're G-men!

"Assalamu alaikum"
"Walaikum assalam"

Damn, they still think we're FBI agents!  I had to ask something an informant probably wouldn't ask.

"Do you pray taraweeh here?"

Dynamite.  No informant would possibly make that their first question.

It turns out they don't pray taraweeh here, citing a lack of a hafiz.  They did, amusingly, invite me to lead taraweeh if I wanted to.  Only two people have ever experience a Zuhair-Saadat-led taraweeh, and I wasn't about to put these nice people through that, so I declined.

The community is actually very nice.  They were obviously very surprised to see two Pakistani men randomly show up to pray in this neighborhood, but they welcomed us and told me on my way out that I needed to come for iftar soon.

The lack of taraweeh did mean this was an extremely short visit, but it was nice regardless.  The streets of Oakland are a little rough, to say the least, and it was nice to be in an oasis of comfort and dignity.  I want to say this was the only storefront on the entire block with its lights on, which isn't too surprising given the high crime rate here.  Obviously, I don't know this community well at all, but it seems as if they'd welcome almost anyone who stopped by.

The inside of the masjid. Quite inviting, as you can see.

The outside of the masjid.  Quite uninviting, as you can see.

Date Visited: August 1, 2012

Location:
5403 Bancroft Avenue
Oakland, CA 94601

Tag-team taraweeh:  N/A

Qirat: Very good.  The imam clearly went to school to learn how to recite the Quran, or definitely has taken lessons.

Size of congregation: 8-10

Capacity of center: 15-20

Parking: Street

Mihrab: No

Minbar: No

Shoe shelves: There was a shoe organizer hanging from a bookshelf.  Most people use the floor for convenience's sake.

Building: A storefront property in East Oakland

Friendliness towards women: While there was only one woman there last night, I'm sure this masjid is open and friendly towards women.

Friendliness of congregation: Very high, once they got over the surprise of seeing people like us pop in through the door.  If you show up for iftar, they will feed you, I'm sure.

Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (Oakland)

I intentionally did not do much research about this mosque before I visited. The fact that it was a Shia mosque located inside a former Masonic Lodge made it a tantalizing prospect, and I wanted to arrive with as few pre-conceived notions as possible.

I had found out that during the last 12 nights of Ramadan the masjid runs a special program where the congregation recites the Quran together for an hour or so before maghrib. I dutifully arrived at around 7:30 and walked towards the cavernous building, where a corridor of holiday lights directed me to the front door. Once inside, I was struck by how incredibly beautiful it was; not only was the existing Lodge architecture stunning, but the congregation had laid down Persian rugs everywhere which only added to the ambiance.

I climbed the stairs and was informed that there were unfortunately only two programs: Persian for the adults and English for the youth. Once I was in the youth program, I realized they really meant youth, and not MCA youth (definition: ages 15-35, I’ve also heard < 40). Almost everyone, save for the discussion leader, was a pre-teen or a young teenager. I opened one of the Qurans on the table and it was one of those copies with the alphabet in the beginning, basically, one designed to teach children how to read Arabic. I mentally rolled my eyes.

I didn’t know what to expect, but I was thinking it would be a discussion on a topic from the Shia perspective, as it was at SABA. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The topic tonight was the importance of Ramadan to Muslims, and it was from any perspective the group wanted to bring to the table. The discussion centered around the point that fasting was not prescribed to the Muslims till 15 years after the first verses of the Quran had been revealed. Why then, do we immediately tell converts to embrace all five pillars of Islam as soon as they’ve accepted the religion? Something to chew on, for sure.

In the discussion, the group cited, to my incredible surprise, Alaeddin al-Bakri and Suhaib Webb, two contemporary Sunni scholars. Alaeddin al-Bakri is the imam of the Saratoga mosque and old William Webb is the best worst comedian in the Muslim community. He’s the worst because he only has one joke—the word biryani—and he’s the best because whenever he says that one word he slays the uncles and aunties.

The fact that the group knew and respected those two scholars (al-Bakri having even spoken at this masjid a couple times) in addition to being personally familiar with many Sunni masjids in the area was my first indication that being Shia is not paramount to this community’s identity. Rather, they value the fact that they are Muslim, and the fact that the discussion never once made reference to the differences in Sunni and Shia history and theology made me a whole lot more comfortable.

The community invited me to stay for maghrib and then iftar afterwards, where I had a very nice conversation with the young muezzin, who had just started high school. He made a lasting impression on me; his maturity level belied his age, and during our conversation I couldn’t help but to think that mosques are not doing a good enough job of reaching out to the youth. By his own admission, he was an oddity in that he attends the masjid regularly. His contemporaries are focused on the mall, school, and, of course, girls. Rather than focus on 35-year-old “youth” masjids need to target the 8-12 demographic. Here in Richmond, kids are lost to the street by age 11 if there’s no positive outside intervention in their lives. I’m not saying the alternative to not reaching out to young Muslims in suburbia is seeing them turn into gangbangers, but I do believe if you can get a Muslim kid through middle school while helping him strengthen his faith, you’ve done your part to develop a Muslim leader for life.

The community again surprised me with their hospitality during the post-Isha lecture. One of the leaders of the masjid asked the imam to speak in English specifically for my benefit, which was touching and also admittedly a little embarrassing. The imam declined, but only because of the large number of non-English speakers in the audience. It was the gesture which counted more than anything.

I haven’t felt so welcome by a total group of strangers in a while. Additionally, I am truly impressed by the community’s awareness of their shortcomings. The fact that hardly anyone between the ages of adolescence and young adulthood shows up regularly is something they’re combating by offering different lectures designed to appeal to a younger demographic. I have the most respect for mosques that go beyond simply being open five times a day for daily prayers, because really, that does nothing for the kids.

I have high hopes for this community, because they’re cognizant of the fact that they need to prepare their youth to lead the masjid in the future. They do realize they have a somewhat negative reputation in the community because they tend to utilize Persian as the primary means of communication, which isn’t the best way to attract congregants in the middle of Oakland. It’s their hope that the youth, utilizing their native English-speaking skills, will serve as the catalysts for the eventual integration of this mosque into the diverse fabric that is the Muslim community of the East Bay.

 Corridor of lights heading towards the front entrance.  One can only wonder what decisions the Freemasons made to destroy the world in these hallways before the masjid took over the property.

The work of mischievous teenagers or an earnest man trying to tell me that my mother is welcome here?

Date Visited: August 23, 2011

Location:
1433 Madison St.
Oakland, CA 94612

Tag-team taraweeh: No taraweeh here, only maghrib and isha prayers.

Qirat: Very nice, led by a Persian gentleman with a very soft and pure voice.

Size of congregation: 30-40 tonight, but there were about 300 last night since it was the alleged last night on which Laylut-ul-Qadr could possibly be, but don’t tell that to the Desis who are going to go all out seeking the Night of Power this Friday night.

Capacity of center: Good lord, I can’t even measure that, this place was huge. The prayer hall had a capacity of about 300, but this place has plenty of spillover space.

Parking: Thank the Masons for being rich enough to be able to not only afford to build a huge building in one of Oakland’s more desirable neighborhoods, but also to build a parking lot. Do not worry about having to find street parking here.

Mihrab: Yes.

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes. The entire building seems to have rugs or carpeting, but you only really have to take off your shoes in the prayer hall.

Building: A former Masonic Lodge. Absolutely gorgeous building, and one I’d driven past many times in my old capacity as a gopher for an Oakland law firm, but never realized was a masjid.

Friendliness towards women: Very high. Women were mingling with the men with no problems, but that also may be a byproduct of almost everyone being the same ethnic group. I expect the rules to change as the community gets a bit more diverse and everyone doesn’t know each other.

Friendliness of congregation: I am grateful to this community for all the hospitality they showed me tonight. Since I’ve moved away from Santa Clara I’ve been looking for a masjid in the East Bay which could fill the niche MCA used to fill (large, progressive mosque with lots of services besides prayers) and I think I’ve finally found it.

Masjid Al-Iman (Oakland)

Maghrib these days, according to my trusty calendar, is around 8 PM these days, 8:05 to be on the safe side. The time for Isha started at 9:16 today. In the South Bay, thanks to the corporate culture fostered at MCA, the mosque leadership is bent on starting Isha as early as possible these days, i.e. the Daylight Saving Time era, so folks can get more sleep or whatever. Unfortunately, starting Isha as early as possible severely cuts into the time you have to break your fast, pray and then eat dinner. Think about it, if sunset is at 8:05, how much do you really have to eat if the mosque is starting Isha at 9:30? Not only is Isha starting at 9:30, but you know you have to be at the mosque at least 10-15 minutes early if you want to find decent parking. Folks who are glued to MCA are therefore forced to swallow their dinners in maybe 45 minutes, thus making iftar parties almost impossible to enjoy.

I mention this rambling anecdote because this mentality has seeped into my bones. One of my brother’s friends and his new wife (congratulations to the two of them) invited me over for iftar and unfortunately, after 9:15 I turned into a bad guest because I kept fidgeting, thinking that I was going to miss taraweeh. Truth be told, if I hadn’t been doing the 30 mosques project, I would have stayed and finished the evening properly. Taraweeh is only wajib, while brotherhood is fard, am I right?

I left my new friend’s apartment at 9:40 and got to Oakland at around 10:00. I discovered that this is a sane mosque that bizarrely believes in giving its congregation enough time to eat and enjoy its company so I managed to arrive 2-3 minutes before Isha was even set to begin.

The congregation did dhikr in a group before Isha, after Isha, before taraweeh, every two rakats during taraweeh and a longer dua every four rakats. Yeah, this mosque is heavy on the dhikr. That’s fine, but I’m not a stickler for dhikr. Nope, I’m not a dhikr stickler.

Otherwise, the taraweeh was pretty standard fare.

The sufi influence was strong, given the number of elaborate turbans I saw on the heads of the congregation, but it was unique in that I didn’t see any white Muslims. Before tonight I assumed that all Sufi groups had at least a small minority who weren’t born into Islam. The reason for this is Sufis are a lot more easygoing about their faith than other Muslims. For example, did you know that if you adhere to the Shaf’i school of law, if you even brush against a woman your wudu is broken? That may not seem too strange, given that men and women are supposed to avoid contact with each other, but consider the fact that you also have to cleanse yourself before you can pray if you come into contact with a dog. I’m sure there’s a context behind that law, but it’s stuff like that which tends to scare non-Muslims and generally makes converts veer towards a more relaxed interpretation of Islam.

The most impressive thing about this community was everyone appeared to be in synch, and those of us who weren’t were given a piece of paper with all the dhikr that was happening or was about to happen. I seemed to be the only one relying on that piece of paper as everyone I saw in the men’s section was reciting all the duas by heart. I’d really never felt like more of an outsider, but I’d also never felt more welcome. The congregation WANTED me to participate, and they WANTED to welcome more outsiders. For the ease of the visitors, all the duas were written in transliterated Arabic, instead of the Arabic script. I mean hey, my parents didn’t raise a fool, I can still pick my way through the Arabic script, but it definitely helped me keep up with the crowd by reading the duas written in the English script.

This is a wonderful little space because it truly is an oasis in a blighted neighborhood. There have been improvements to the neighborhood since I lived in Berkeley and drove down Shattuck Ave, but it’s clear that the neighborhood is economically depressed and really, when the liquor store is the only well-lit spot on the block, you can’t be blamed for making certain assumptions about the area. However, it’s clear to me once again that I was foolish to judge a book by its cover, as the difference between the inside of the mosque and the outside was truly night and day.

Date Visited: August 16, 2011

Location:
5625 Shattuck Ave.
Oakland, CA 94609

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Good, good. The imam was not a hafiz, because he was reading from a quran, but the quality of his recitation indicated he was no stranger to it.

Size of congregation: 10-15

Capacity of center: 50

Parking: Lot and street. The lot is hidden behind the building and accessed through a narrow driveway. Wouldn’t recommend parking in there because your car could easily be blocked in.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes, 2! I’ve never seen two minbars in one mosque before.

Shoe shelves: Had to use the floor

Building: From the outside, it fits right into the neighborhood. It’s a non-descript one-storey affair located right next to the local liquor store. The neighborhood isn’t the worst, but it isn’t the best either, as I could see iron bars in some of the other buildings’ windows, even the local churches’. Once you go down the narrow driveway and enter the masjid through the back, though, you’re transported into a different world. The masjid is exquisitely decorated inside with a lovely mihrab and two wooden minbars, one smaller than the other. The backdrop in the mihrab is a black sheet with gold embroidery; I don’t know if it was supposed to evoke memories of the Kabah, but it did for me. An elaborate crystal chandelier hangs inside the mihrab. What ties the room together are the calligraphic Quranic verses written in the rafters. If anything, this masjid resembles those little ones you’ll find in the dustiest corners of Istanbul. Those are grey and dull on the outside but the insides are proof of years of loving care and maintenance. Finally, the building’s parallel with the direction of the qibla! I love when that happens.

Friendliness towards women: There are no barriers here. Men and women use the same entrance and pray in the same hall with no curtain to block their view of the mihrab and minbar. A lady who entered at almost the same time also greeted me, which means this isn’t one of those outfits where once inside carrying a conversation with a Muslim woman is like pulling teeth.

Friendliness of congregation: Off the charts. Before I even entered folks heading towards the mosque were saying salam. Once inside, it was a cacophony of, “Assalamu alaikum,” “Welcome” and “How are you, brother?” They seemed genuinely interested in my well-being and I appreciated the warmth.

The inside of the mosque.  The women pray towards the right behind where I was standing.

Oakland Doubleheader

I took the right exit yesterday and ended up on the 1500 block of MacArthur Ave, my original target on August 1st. The time was 8:08; I knew I had about 10 or so minutes to burn before Maghrib began and I could break my fast. I located 1515 and saw that the storefront property was locked up, including the security gate out front. I snapped a picture, went back to my car, and waited.

And waited. Soon it was maghrib even by Karbala-rocker standards, and yet nobody came to open the masjid.

I needed a ginger ale, because that was such an epic fail. No, seriously, I need something to drink because it was a half-hour past sunset and I still hadn’t broken my fast. My fast was in makhruh territory and was steadily slipping into haram territory, as Muslims aren’t suppose to extend their fast (to put it eloquently, the sawab clock stops at sunset). Also unfortunately for me, this was the first neighborhood on MacArthur I’d seen that DIDN’T have a liquor store on the corner so I couldn’t even dash in somewhere to purchase some water.

I went to college nearby (don’t like to name-drop) so I was able to put myself on the freeway and had dinner in Berkeley and also found a masjid that was open, which apparently isn’t a given anymore during Ramadan. I weighed my taraweeh options and opted to head to Lighthouse, an old favorite from my college days (still not going to name-drop).

Lighthouse is unique in many ways when compared to the Bay Area masajid I’ve visited, and its setup I’m sure offends those with more conservative religious sensibilities. However, it more closely resembles the Grand Mosque in Mecca than the aforementioned mosques. Think about it:

1) Men and women using the same entrance to enter and exit
2) Men praying in plain sight of women, with no barriers
3) The smell of incense in the air
4) The friendliness of the diverse congregation

5) The simple setup; in Mecca any Muslim will tell you the best part about visiting the Grand Mosque is seeing the Ka’ba and praying in the open air around it

Yes, you could argue that these five points are true of many small setups, but the fact is, Lighthouse doesn’t have a congregation. At the height of taraweeh the room was comfortably full and, I’m thrilled to report, there were more women than men. It was also a fabulous experience because I could feel the sincerity in the air.

This taraweeh was unique in that after 10 rakats, the congregation took a break from praying to hear a small lecture about the Quran, hadith and sunnah. Yesterday’s topic was how Allah can elevate a Muslim but also debase him to make their faith stronger, in other words, save them. He use the parable of a mother and her baby. They’re at home, the mom’s doing mom stuff and the baby’s doing baby stuff. The mom is too busy doing mom stuff to notice that the baby is crawling towards a light socket to stick an appendage in there. At the last minute, before the baby permanently ceases doing baby stuff, the mom, and these are his words, picks up a frying pan and throws it at the baby, hitting him and thus distracting him from the light socket.

It got better. The lecturer claimed (and I say claim because I vehemently disagree) that even though the baby would be a cripple when he grew up he would thank his mother for saving his life. What?? First of all, if a mother’s in the kitchen, the fact that she thinks to throw a frying pan instead of banging on it to distract the baby is a little troublesome. The ludicrousness of the allegory made me wonder if it was actually a true story…must investigate later.

As you can see, I’m the kind of the guy who takes allegories too literally. When we read Plato in high school I annoyed my philosophy teacher by constantly asking her what the heck a man was doing hanging out in a dark cave in the first place.

For the record, I completely understand the lecturer’s point: God does things to us which hurt us, but it’s really to save us from a worse fate and it’s to elevate our faith. I just think the lecturer could have used a better example. Needless to say, from now on when I visit Lighthouse, I’ll think of babies being maimed by frying pans.

One final note: this is a community mosque. My Turkish friend (who went to same college as I did, though I won’t say which) and I were catching up outside when we realized wait, everyone had left the mosque but the lights were still on and door wide open. It’s as if the mosque has the understanding if you’re the last one there, you’ll be the person to close up. I commend the mosque for placing so much trust in their congregation, but it’s a very risky move. My friend was able to call up his friend to find out how to lock the door, but would I have been as resourceful if I’d been by myself? It’s highly unlikely.

Wish I could tell you more about this, but this is as close as I got inside.

Lighthouse from the street

Date Visited: August 2, 2011

Locations:

Jamaat-us-Salam
1515 MacArthur Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94602

Lighthouse Mosque
4606 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Oakland, CA 94609

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Good

Size of congregation: ~40

Capacity of center: ~50

Parking: Street

Mihrab: No

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: Both occupied units in the first floor storefront of residential buildings

Friendliness towards women: Lighthouse leads the way in this regard

Friendliness of congregation: High

Masjid-ul-Islam (Oakland)

Date Visited: August 1, 2011

Location: 8210 MacArthur Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94605

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Good

Size of congregation: < 5
 

Capacity of center: ~100
 

Parking: Street
 

Mihrab: Yes
 

Minbar: No
 

Shoe shelves: Yes
 

Building: A good-sized building flush with the sidewalk on Macarthur Blvd.
 

Friendliness towards women: There were no women in attendance, but there was a non-partitioned section off to the side I assume was for them.
 

Friendliness of congregation: High

I wasn’t even planning on visiting this mosque tonight.  I mean, sure, it was on my radar, but I was aiming for an entirely different East Oakland mosque.  Yes, there are so many mosques in Oakland you can shoot for one and land in another.  Essentially, I took the wrong exit and ended up on a section of MacArthur far removed from the mosque I wanted to see.  Call it fate, call it a brain fart brought on by 15 hours of foodlessness, but it turned out well.

These are Amir Abdul Malik’s old stomping grounds.  While he has left, the masjid technically still remains under the auspices of one Imam Musa, a man so notorious he has drawn the attention of Daniel Pipes.  While I’m glad there is still a semblance of organization in this masjid, it was immediately apparent that it’s fallen on hard times.

I showed up around maghrib, and saw that the mosque was locked.  Unusual, especially since during Ramadan most masajid I have visited encourage their congregations to break their fast with each other.  Nonetheless, I hung around in this arguably shady neighborhood in Oakland.  There were skid marks on the road indicating bored youth had made donuts in the middle of MacArthur Blvd and there were a lot of bored youth hanging outside the corner store hitting on every girl who walked by.  I stuck out like a sore thumb, which I’m used to by now because come on, how many Pakistanis are there in Richmond?

When there are so few people showing up for prayer that I have to lead, you know the congregation is in bad shape.  It was shocking, too, because clearly the hall was big enough to hold at least 50 people easily, and probably 100 if you packed them in.  I hung around after maghrib to investigate what was going on.

The first thing I saw was literature from Imam Musa everywhere extolling the work of “The Islamic Institute for Counter Zionist American Psychological Warfare.”  If associating with the CalMSA in college didn’t place me on some government watchlist, visiting this mosque definitely did.  I found out a lot of people who used to show up (and, more importantly, donate) to this mosque abandoned it simply because it became too political.  I really can’t blame them; I wouldn’t want any part of an organization sponsoring an initiative with a name like that.

The mosque started declining right around the resignation of the Amir.  While I was not able to uncover the exact reasons for his departure, it was apparent that things were better for the mosque under his tenure.  More people used to show up, and some big names used to show up to lead the juma prayer.  Now, I found it, they were lucky if a handful of people showed up for taraweeh.  Unfortunately, the poor attendance has led to the masjid being in a state of bankruptcy.

I spent the time between maghrib and isha just talking to the people who were there, learning as much as I can about the history of the mosque and where it is now.  It really is a community institution; my host told me that I could access the masjid any time I wanted because lots of neighbors had the key, even the owner of a local liquor store.  The mosque is somewhat like a safe haven in the community; he insisted that anyone who’s coming to worship in the mosque is left alone.  Given what I’d already seen, I was inclined to believe him.

Taraweeh was led by a gentleman who was a native speaker of Arabic, which the congregation (composed of me, my host and the prayer leader) preferred due to his ability to recite the Quran very quickly.  And I mean QUICKLY.  We prayed 10 rakats of taraweeh and 3 rakats of witr in 15 minutes.

Yes, I said 10 rakats of taraweeh, not 8, not 20.  The leader’s dua during witr was also in English.  Quite unconventional, to say the least, and both actions would definitely have lead to an uproar at a larger mosque. 

I admit, part of the reason I showed up at the mosque around maghrib was I was hoping to get something to eat.  You see, I worked for an organization composed of a corps of Americans and they pay me a pitiful stipend.  If there’s anyone who qualifies to eat at free iftars without feeling guilty, it’d be me, right?  Unfortunately, I didn’t get my free meal at maghrib, but the host, bless his heart, got his wife to pick up halal fried chicken from somewhere in East Oakland, which we enjoyed after taraweeh.  It was a stunning display of generosity, especially after considering the dire financial straits of the mosque.

One additional detail I don’t want to forget about tonight, and one I’d like to share, is something from the conversation the prayer leader and I had before taraweeh.  We were discussing (well, he was doing most of the talking) the ideal mosque and he said there shouldn’t be a woman’s section in any of them.  Why?  If the women are at the mosque, who will watch the kids??  It takes all kinds to make an ummah.

 The unassuming entrance to the sanctuary.  Well, there was a huge sign to the right of this photo, but still.

Masjidul Waritheen

Date visited: September 8, 2010

Location: Oakland, CA
1652 47th Avenue
Oakland, CA 94601

Tag-team Taraweeh: No

Qirat: Good

Size of congregation: ~ 50

Capacity of center: < 400

Parking: Street. Be warned, this is the kind of neighborhood where the houses have tall fences and doors are protected by iron grills.

Mihrab: No

Minbar: They had a lectern, not a minbar.

Shoe shelves: Some

Building: A mosque/school combo

Friendliness towards women: High. Lots of women were present, and they got to take their food first during iftar.

Friendliness of congregation: Very high. You could strike up a conversation with pretty much anyone in this place.

One thing had been lacking in my quest to visit 30 mosques this past month. Even though I'd already been to two mosques in Richmond and four in Oakland, none of them had been African-American masajid. Yes, there was a smattering of African-Americans at all the masajid I did visit, but because of that, I made the decision to skip Berkeley and go to an authentic African-American mosque.

I find street parking and the first thing I notice is I've already seen two churches on this one block alone. I see that I've overshot the address of the mosque by a block so I start walking up towards the Oakland Hills. Then it hits me.

I heard the adhan. I'm not even kidding, it's like they've attached speakers outside so everyone within a reasonable proximity knows that this is a masjid. I trace the source of the sound and was stunned. The masjid was the largest building in the neighborhood, and dwarfed the two churches. This was the first time I'd ever seen a mosque dwarf a neighborhood church, and I marveled at the sight.

The building itself appears to be a converted church. The mosque is part of a large nationwide network of masajid, run by the son of the late Elijah Muhammad (yes, that Elijah Muhammad). They really haven't done much to change the church because it was clearly so functional for this community. You come inside and you can tell what is now the prayer space used to be where the pews stood, and where the Christian worshippers used to face.

By a lucky coincidence, the Muslims at the mosque pray almost in the opposite direction. What's cool about the prayer space is that the mosque wasn't leveled properly so everyone is praying uphill. It's a strange feeling praying on a surface which is angling upwards. I really don't think I could get used to it even if I came here every day.

The prayer hall is painted green and white, and is covered with a plush green carpet. There is a banquet hall right next door, where they served us iftar and I think where the children eat lunch every day.

Oh yes, there is a school on site as well, the Clara Mohammed elementary school. It warmed my heart to see that this community values education so much they established a school right next to the mosque. The proximity of the school would also explain the balloons and lights strung from the walls which celebrated the coming of Ramadan and the nearness of Eid.

The people are absolutely beautiful. Yes, I have been blessed with a large amount of hospitality this Ramadan, but this was only the second masjid where the men and women were kind and courteous towards me. Unfortunately, in the immigrant communities, it seems like gender interaction is frowned upon, even if it is civil and modest. Tell you what, you will never see a woman serving a man food at MCA, or a man serving a woman, for that matter.

The stark contrast between this mosque and the mosque in which I was raised made me think I made a good decision wrapping up this project here and not somewhere else. The whole point of me burning dozens of gallons of gas this month was to see just how different the communities of the Bay Area are. Well, it doesn't get much different from MCA than this.

Lighthouse Mosque

Date visited: September 7, 2010

Location: Oaklandish, CA
4606 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Oakland, CA, 94609

Tag-team Taraweeh: As far as I know, nope.

Qirat: There weren't no taraweeh tonight.

Size of congregation: Small. I'll explain later.

Capacity of center: 150, if even that.

Parking: Street. Be warned, this is the kind of neighborhood where you might come out and see someone sitting on the hood of your car. It HAS happened with me once.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: Could be described as a large studio apartment, haha.

Friendliness towards women: Nary a one. However, since this is a Zaid Shakir joint, if they were here, they'd be sitting next to the men during iftar.

Friendliness of congregation: Astronomical. The funny part is the guys I met first weren't even from Oakland. One was from LA, the other from Sacramento, but since they'd been spending the past few nights at the mosque they acted like hosts.

Whoever walks through the doors of this mosque owns it. Or, at least, that's how it felt tonight. There were so few people there I was actually invited to lead Maghrib. Lucky for them, I didn't want to.

Zaid Shakir runs a pretty tight ship here, so tight he doesn't even need to be here to manage things. I was stunned to see how everything was running so smoothly when there didn't even seem to be someone in charge. A generous woman dropped off food for iftar, which was received by the two out-of-towners doing itikaaf. The two out-of-towners set up dinner because they already knew where everything was. It's stunning to see such hospitality when nobody could really call themselves the hosts.

This community is pretty awesome, though. I mean, the woman dropped off food and apparently does it regularly during Ramadan without even being asked. She's been dropping off so much food that the fridge is full of leftovers from a couple days ago.

The only directive I really saw was one asking that the kitchen be kept clean. Stunningly, it was. I say stunning because you can find the same signs hanging in some masajid in the Bay and lord knows those aren't clean.

Iftar ended up being me and four other guys. There was enough food to feed 30 people. Such is the generosity of the people who are supporting this mosque.

That said, it's not like this is a lonely masjid tucked away in a dusty corner of Oakland. Apparently they had a fundraising dinner the night before which was so large they had to hold it at a local community center. The impressive thing is, they're not even raising money to remodel the center, which is quite frankly the number one priority for most mosques. They were raising money primarily to continue providing services to their community. This is a very active mosque in that lectures are held here on a weekly basis, if not more frequent.

That's what I liked best about tonight. This is a relatively famous mosque, and on a night when other mosques would be packed with people eating iftar, I got to enjoy a serene dinner with four other guys. It was one of the most unique experiences I've had this Ramadan and one that will probably be hard to replicate in the future.

As a parting gift, one of my dinner companions gave me the gift of non-alcoholic beer. Because that had Ramadan written all over it.

Masjid Abu Bakr

Date visited: September 1, 2010

Location: Oakland, CA
948 62nd St.
Oakland, CA 94608

Tag-team Taraweeh: No

Qirat: Good

Size of congregation: ~ 30

Capacity of center: They could fit about 150 in there if they wanted to, but for some reason they were putting two safs between each line. So, they could have fit eight lines of men in the center, but they put only four. Strange.

Parking: Street. Found it right next to the mosque, though.

Mihrab: No

Minbar: Yes. Delicately carved wooden piece.

Shoe shelves: Yes.

Building: A circular concrete structure. From the outside it looks kind of pretty because the concrete blocks have been textured to look like stone. From the inside it would look like a prison if they hadn't painted a smattering of designs on the concrete and hung up decorations.

Friendliness towards women: Women have no place in this facility. It only has one room, and this isn't one of those hippie Muslim places where men and women pray in the same space. I'm looking at you, Stanford.

Friendliness of congregation: Very. Arab hospitality reared its pretty head once again.

If you haven't been to hajj, you might be a bit unprepared for the dinner they serve here. If you're from a community where folks drive BMWs and eat catered food at the mosque, you might be a bit taken aback when you see this community at dinner time. It's a very traditional community and don't abide by Western traditions of table manners.

You see, when I was on the pilgrimage on Mecca the evening after our day on Arafat we were served lamb pilaf courtesy of the King of Saudi Arabia. There were no spoons, no forks and no plates. Everyone just dug in with their hands from a common plate.

This place took a similar approach. Everyone did have their own plate, but since there were no spoons, you had to dig in with your hands to get your food. I was a bit reticent at first, but a man encouraged me to help myself, saying this is exactly how the army did it.

I was touched by this community's generosity. There was more than enough food for everyone and since it was coming out of household pots and pans God knows how many people spent how many hours cooking it for the congregation.

One thing inside the masjid which stuck out was that they had El Corán on the shelves. No, not just one Quran in Spanish, but 12. Surprisingly, however, I did not see any Hispanics in the crowd.

Oakland Islamic Center

Date visited: August 31, 2010

Location: Oakland, CA
515 31st St.
Oakland, 94609

Tag-team Taraweeh: No

Size of congregation: ~ 500

Capacity of center: ~ 500

Parking: Some off-street, mostly street

Mihrab: Gorgeous marble structure inlaid with tiles and topped with calligraphy.

Minbar: Beautiful wooden structure which didn't epitomize elegance but came close.

Shoe shelves: Plenty

Building: A mosque, not a converted building. This community's been around for a LONG time and I get the feeling a lot of local Muslims businesses were developed because of this mosque. It's got a minaret and a huge open area for spillover. The prayer hall has three large chandeliers hanging near the front of the building and is ringed by pretty light fixtures. Clearly this community takes a lot of pride in its masjid.

Friendliness towards women: Lots of women came to pray here. Haven't ever hheard any complaints.

Friendliness of congregation: They hosted a huge iftar where they kept refilling the plates of those who didn't ask for it. Egyptian hospitality.

I always though this mosque was a little strange because it seemed so out of place in the neighborhood. Don't get me wrong, I didn't think that because this mosque was wrongly built on sacred land. It's just that the neighborhood is predominantly black and this congregation is for the most part Egyptian. However, I saw today that things have changed. Even more Muslim businesses have opened up and the congregation is definitely not all Egyptian, although the imam still lectures only in Arabic.

I think this mosque is a good example of how Muslims can help improve blighted neighborhoods. This is one of the oldest parts of Oakland, with beautiful old Victorian houses lining the side streets. However, most of these houses are now in terrible condition and they don't seem to be getting any better. To see this beautiful masjid in the midst of all this deriliction and all the business it attracts has to be good for the neighborhood.

Masjid Al-Salam

Date visited: August 30, 2010

Location: Oakland, CA
1005 7th. St.
Oakland, 94607

Tag-team Taraweeh: Nope

Size of congregation: Surprisingly large

Capacity of center: < 200

Parking: Street

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes, one of which was stolen from a retail store because they still had mylar stickers on them.

Building: A converted commercial building. Surrounded by a wrought-iron fence. However, they do have a basketball hoop, which is nice.

Friendliness towards women: Son, if you come here, do not go through the black door in the front. It may look like the main entrance because it's the only door facing the street, but it's the women's entrance. I didn't see any women (God forbid) because there were stairs leading up to their section. It did seem like the women were out-of-sight and out-of-mind, though. Definitely not like IKIC in Fremont, where women were literally inching into the men's section to hear Zaid Shakir speak.

Friendliness of congregation: Incredible. Oh my God, incredible. I did iftar here and they would not stop feeding me. One of the men actually got upset because he thought I hadn't eaten. He thought that because he hadn't actually seen me eat. Arab hospitality, man, can't beat it.

"What did you study at Berkeley?"

I was stunned by the question. I turned around to face the person who asked me.

"How did you know I went to Berkeley?"

How did he know?? Did he smell the stench of my rejection from Stanford, even after all these years? Did he notice the worry lines permanently etched on my face from being put on too many waitlists for classes?

He smiled and pointed at my lanyard, which was sticking out of my pocket (on the left side, because that's the Crip side). Duh, my Cal lanyard.

It turns out this gentleman played ball at the D-1 level, even squaring off against Cal once. Yep, he played for USF...the Don one, not the Bull one. He and I had a fantastic conversation about his career and what he was up to these days.

See, he was representative of this congregation. It was exceedingly Arab--as I rounded the corner of the mosque someone asked me in Arabic and not English if I'd eaten--but everyone was charming. They seemed genuinely happy to see me and were happy to welcome me to their community.

The center itself is surprisingly large. I guess I never thought that the congregation in this neighborhood could be so large. It is just a mosque and not a community center, but still, when you have a basketball court on your property you clearly have community in mind.