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.

Masjid-ul-Garage (Marin City/Sausalito)

I found this mosque thanks to a commenter who told me about it. Because I always visit random places suggested by strangers on the internet…

I threw caution to the wind (not really, I verified that there was indeed a Muslim community in Marin City/Sausalito), paid the Marin County entrance tax (i.e. the bridge toll) and found myself in a sprawling apartment complex. My guide told me to head to the building facing the softball field, and there I waited.

There was evidence of Muslim life in this complex. On my way to building 56 I saw two hijabis walking in the other direction. I hailed them. They ignored me (not too uncommon). I hailed them again and they confirmed that the prayer was held around the corner in one of the garages. I stood outside the corner of the building, unsure of in which garage the Muslims congregated. Were they going to open the garage door to let people in? I thought the rug store was a surreal place in which to pray organized taraweeh, but this had exceeded that threshold and was about to set the bar high in that regard.

As I was waiting, I heard a young man ambling through the softball field behind me. He was singing something to himself, and after two seconds I realized it was the adhan. More evidence of Muslim life! I hailed him, but it turned out he was just a Muslim who happened to be passing by and no, he had no plans to pray taraweeh tonight. What are the odds of meeting two Muslims in one apartment complex, neither of whom has the intention of praying taraweeh there?

I waited another 5 minutes. A man wearing a kufi pulled up in a minivan, only to drop off two women and drive off before I could even say hello. This was starting to get ridiculous. In a place like Santa Clara or Fremont, if you see a Muslim in the neighborhood of a masjid around prayer time, it’s a safe assumption to make that they’re heading there. Shoot, back at Cal whenever I’d forgotten the exact location of the MSA meeting I’d just follow the trail of hijabis (and I wonder why they walk quicker when they see me).

Still, I waited patiently, putting my trust in the words of a commenter who’d said prayer was indeed held in building 56. Eventually a man showed up in a kufi and I immediately approached him. Jackpot. He led me into the complex and we were in the prayer area.

Prayer here is literally held in a garage. Not only do they pray in a garage, but they pray five times a day in this garage. Not only do they pray five times a day in this garage, but there was evidence of an iftar party on the table. I shook my head in amazement, though I don’t know why I was so shocked since all the signs had pointed to this.

Lots of people showed up, and by lots I mean about half the garage was full by the time they started isha. And then God placed the cherry on top of this surreal evening.

The garage door on the far left opened in the middle of prayer, and a woman backed in her Camry. She collected her groceries, locked her car and walked past us as if nothing was happening. WHAT??

They pray in an active garage? When I first saw the space I assumed they were renting out all the spots! No, they only rent two of the four single-car spots and get to enjoy carbon monoxide fumes as they pray. This feeling of disbelief followed me throughout the night and I still find myself shaking my head in amazement.

The congregation engaged in worship/reflection with a car in the background.  Yeah, that's not surreal at all.

Date Visited: August 15, 2011

Location:
56 Terrace Dr. Building 56
Sausalito, CA 94965

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Good, taraweeh was led by a young man while most of the congregation was composed of elderly gentlemen

Size of congregation: 15

Capacity of center: 20

Parking: Lot and street. And of course we were praying on two parking spots.

Mihrab: No

Minbar: No

Shoe shelves: Floor

Building: Two units in a four-unit single-car garage. There is carpeting on the floor and apparently the congregation has been using this space for ten years. That and the nonchalance of the tenant who parked her Camry indicate that management has to be aware of this community’s existence. The biggest downside to this space is of course it’s not designed to be used in this way. Most noticeable is the lack of restrooms (of course) which leads me to believe most people who attended the prayers must be from the immediate area. How do Muslims get in, do you ask? The lock on the gate leading inside the complex is busted, and Muslims prop open the door inside the complex leading to the garage. I don’t want to point fingers, but it’s awfully convenient for the Muslims that the lock on the outer gate “happens” to be busted…

Friendliness towards women: I didn’t see any women, and I didn’t ask where or if they pray. The space really isn’t big enough for men and women to pray together.

Friendliness of congregation: It’s a very tight-knit community, so they gave me the third degree. They ask me where I was from (Santa Clara, I wasn’t risking another TJ inviting himself over to my apartment). They asked me where my parents were from (Lahore and Karachi). That didn’t suffice for them. Where in Lahore, where in Karachi? I named the societies in which my grandparents’ homes are located. One follow up: what was I doing here if I live in Santa Clara? Visiting a friend from Mill Valley. Which friend? I dropped the name of an old college acquaintance, in case they knew EVERY MUSLIM who lives in Mill Valley. In retrospect, I should have just said Mohammed Khan, that would have covered my bases and then some. Oh, also, this grilling was being done in Urdu; they really wanted to test my authenticity, I tell you what.

Islamic Center of Fremont

If you give your child to the MCA’s youth group, there’s no guarantee that they’ll become a future leader of the Muslim community, although many of them have. MCA’s been struggling with its youth for years; it’s such a tense relationship that on their website the leadership’s displays a banner which says, “We believe youth are the solution, not the problem,” which tells me that a significant portion of the population believes the youth are the problem, a ridiculous notion.

Such problems exist in every Muslim community, but less so at ICF. If you give your child to the masjid, they will turn them into a hafiz. I don’t know the nuances of their hafiz education program but I believe along with memorizing the entire Quran the child also studies the verses to learn more about Islamic law. The last part may be a stretch, as unfortunately too many people place an emphasis on memorizing the words without studying the meaning, but even learning the Quran by heart is an accomplishment and benefit in itself. After memorizing well more than 6,000 verses, studying must come easier than it does for the rest of us, which is why many huffaz go on to become successful professionals after graduating from college.

The mosque is located in a commercial area of Fremont nestled up against one of its nicer, well-manicured neighborhoods (se llama Irvington). It is Fremont, though, so the stench of curry permeates the air (in addition to a high concentration of Pakistani businesses in the area, there’s an apartment complex across the street from whose kitchens waft the aromas of India and Pakistan). The advantage of having the mosque itself on a commercial block is parking isn’t as big a hassle as it is in other places. Everyone who attends this mosque should be able to find parking that won’t disturb people who, oddly enough, are trying to get some sleep at 10 PM on a weeknight. It’s this kind of respect and consideration which unfortunately enough masajid do not demonstrate by purchasing a property in neighborhoods designed to support maybe 2-3 cars per unit.

That said, the mosque isn’t immune from parking problems. Smart-alecky Muslims constantly skirt the law by parking their cars in a strip mall’s parking lot, which has led the mosque to print out sandwich boards warning Muslims to stay out of there. There was also a private security guard out front whose duties probably also include making sure no Muslims park in the lot illegally. Common sense dictates that you not park on private property to attend the masjid but apparently it’s a bit too much to ask for.

The masjid is fabulous on the inside. They’ve gone with a green theme, green being the color of Islam, which makes me glad the masjid isn’t run by folks who think black is the color of Islam. Black carpet and black walls, how dreary would that have looked? They’ve also decorated the inside with calligraphy and a chandelier which hangs from the mihrab. It’s very Pakistani, and it’s a stark contrast to MCA, which either has nothing on its walls or something functional, like an update on their latest fundraising drive.

If this mosque is in the middle of a current fundraising drive, I didn’t find out about it. The only plea for money tonight was to support the famine victims in East Africa, a cause we can all get behind. Unfortunately, after the prayer, I noticed an entire tray of food left over from tonight’s iftar sitting in the back near the shoe shelves. The smart money says that at least some of that food will go to waste, a terrible thing to think about with the famine on everyone’s minds.

The center, while bigger than SBIA, was overflowing. They had set up carpets in the parking lot for men to pray, which wasn’t that bad of an idea because it was pretty nice out. I do wonder, however, if the masjid plans on building a second story to accommodate the growing population. I mean, sure, praying outside tonight was fabulous because Fremont is pretty nice in the summertime, but it’s not a permanent solution.

Men praying outside even though at this point there was space on the inside for them to pray.  Nobody can blame them because it was a pleasant night and the prayer hall was getting a tad stuffy.

Date Visited: August 14, 2011

Location:
4039 Irvington Ave.
Fremont, CA 94538

Tag-team taraweeh: No, but I did cut out after 8, so maybe.

Qirat: All huffaz leading taraweeh should strive to memorize to mesmerize. Unfortunately, most of us attending mosques here in the Bay Area speak classical Arabic, and so can’t understand the Quran. We therefore rely on solid recitation from the imams to keep us focused. The young man tonight did just that, I especially loved that he’s learned to recite the Quran with a slight quiver in his voice.

Size of congregation: 100-200

Capacity of center: 300 including the spillover

Parking: Lot and street. The masjid has agreements with local business and a church to share their parking lots.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Fall far short of the demand. I always try to find a spot in the shelves but tonight there was literally no space for my flippy floppies.

Building: A converted commercial building.

Friendliness towards women: They have their own room and own entrance. I really have no idea of what it’s like in there because I’ve only been at the mosque when it’s crowded. Islamic modesty prevented me from taking a peek to see what it looks like.

Friendliness of congregation: The congregation tonight was large, but a lot of the men in attendance looked friendly.

Muslim Community Association (Santa Clara)

The organization’s full title is MCA-SFBA: the Muslim Community Association of the San Francisco Bay Area. With such a lofty name, is it any surprise that as a young child I thought that this was the only mosque in the Bay Area? Judging by what I have seen this year and observed last year, even MCA-Santa Clara County would be a stretch, as this mosque is not representative of all the communities here.

What this community can say, however, is it has the largest space of any mosque in the Bay Area. More people come for Friday prayers here than any other mosque, and I say that because they have 3 services: 12:15, 1:30 and 2:30, even during the months when the time for Friday prayers doesn’t start till after 1:00. Thanks to MCA’s adherence to multiple schools of law, as opposed to only one, they’ve been able to take advantage of a fatwa which allows them to start jummah before the technical time for that prayer. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, because obviously there’s a demand for more than one jummah, I’m just saying this practice would not fly at a smaller mosque because they tend to have more homogenous congregations which strictly follow one madhab. Being able to take advantage of multiple madhabs is one of the many beautiful things about having a large community.

However, MCA’s size is a double-edged sword. The Friday services are popular because despite all the tech giants’ best efforts to outsource everything to India (thank you, Clinton), lots of Muslims still work around the Santa Clara area. However, the night prayers, and particularly the taraweeh prayers these days, aren’t as popular as they used to be because folks got tired of the traffic and incessant fundraising (just two of the many reasons, I’m sure). You can’t blame the mosque for the incessant fundraising because the more people use your facilities, the more money you need (last I checked MCA asks for a donation of $125 per family to cover Ramadan expenses while SBIA asks a mere $20). However, the more fundraising you do, the less likely people are to come to your mosque regularly enough to donate. It’s a delicate balancing act and the MCA’s donor base has shrunk as the wealthier communities like Saratoga and the Blossom Valley neighborhood of San Jose have established their own little masajid. It’s kind of a shame that the community worked so hard to raise the money for a humungous mosque when it turns out folks would prefer to attend smaller local mosques, just like they did “back home.”

Tonight was one of those fundraiser nights. As a nonprofit employee, I totally get why they would fundraise tonight. First of all, the congregation is never bigger than it is during Ramadan. Second, it was a Saturday night, so the hall was especially full. As a congregant facing a long drive back to Richmond, however, I was annoyed, because the longer the fundraiser, the later I’d be able to complete my taraweeh prayers. Had I known they would be fundraising I would have stuck to a smaller, local mosque. See how the MCA is slowly losing its donor base? I can guarantee I’m not the only one who was thinking these thoughts tonight.

I don’t know what the future holds for MCA, but I can guarantee the notion that the MCA was going to turn into a sprawling complex that could hold thousands of worshippers at once has gone by the wayside. It’s apparent that that’s not part of the vision anymore, as construction workers are currently putting the finishing touches on what is being called the final phase of the remodeling project.

This phase, of course, is the one which called for the MCA to have a brand-spanking new minaret. Fine, it’s built, the money was earmarked for it, whatever. My issue with the construction, after having seen the new addition, is there’s no way for one to get from the new annex to the community hall without either taking off your shoes or walking around the building, which isn’t the best option during inclement weather. Now worshippers who want to go from the bookstore to the community hall, as an example, will have to take off their shoes and carry them through the men’s prayer hall instead being able to keep the shoes on and cut through the prayer hall via a designated passage. It doesn’t sound like a big deal now, but especially since the after-jummah crowd (should) like to shop at the bookstore and most of the parking is on the other side of the building, I predict it’ll become a problem in the cold winter months when folks are less inclined to walk around the building. Taking off and putting on shoes takes a bit longer than most people realize, and if upwards of 3,000 people are attending jummah, the last thing the mosque needs is another factor which adds to the human traffic.

Of course, this is a non-issue if folks are okay with shopping at the bookstore in their socks or bare feet if their shoes happen to be on the other side of the men’s prayer hall, which is actually not very far-fetched.

I do apologize if folks are having a hard time visualizing this. Imagine a lobby in which you have to take your shoes off to cross from the elevators to the offices on the other side. It’d be a lot more convenient to take a path through the lobby in which you could keep your shoes on, right?

The minaret, or as I like to think of it, 64 feet of wasted airspace.  At least Sather Tower on the UC Berkeley campus doubles as a virtually-fireproof vault for important papers and dinosaur bones, what purpose does this thing serve?  The new annex, though, is very nice, I was impressed by the tile selection and placement.  That is money well-spent.  As you can tell by the picture, the finishing touches still need to be placed on the exterior.

Date Visited: August 13, 2011

Location:
3003 Scott Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95054

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Shaikh Jibreel is my only AAA-rated imam. All others are AA+ at best.

Size of congregation: hundreds

Capacity of center: 1,000 without violating any fire codes, maybe a little more

Parking: Lot and street. Muslims insist on parking in the neighboring companies’ lots, which upsets me very much. There’s nothing wrong with parking on the street a little farther away if it’ll mean you’re not breaking the law on your way to prayer. The parking issue is so bad the mosque leadership has a blowup of a letter hanging on the wall, in which a property owner complained that so many Muslims had parked illegally in her lot that a potential tenant had no space to park when they came to check out an office. Absolutely ridiculous. Tell you what, if the MCA fined every Muslim who parked illegally they’d be able to reach their Ramadan fundraising goal of $1.55 million like that.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: Former Hewlitt-Packard R&D lab, if they saw it now they’d be shocked to see what the Moslems have done with the space. It’s changed that much.

Friendliness towards women: Definitely gotten better over the years, probably as the mosque leadership matured and was influenced more by the American-born generation.

Friendliness of congregation: It’s a huge mosque, so it is what you make of it. You can absolutely be that guy who strikes up random conversations with folks, or you could be left alone because the hall is large enough for you to blend into the background.

South Bay Islamic Association (San Jose)

The first thing I noticed as I strolled around this mosque’s lobby was the wall of accolades they’ve set up in the corner. On it were letters and plaques recognizing SBIA for the services it has provided to the community over the years. Most striking was a certificate from the City of Milpitas thanking SBIA for organizing their annual Eid festival at the end of Ramadan. That’s when you know the organization’s hit the big time: when its event is so successful local cities are taking notice even though said cities have mosques of their own. In its 25-year anniversary plaque, the City of San Jose rattled off a list of activities which have positively impacted its residents. SBIA is truly an institution entwined with the community and I encourage you to visit it during its open house on August 21st.

The mosque is led by the charismatic Imam Tahir Anwar, known as IT, TA, Imam Tahir or simply Imam, depending on who you ask. He is a source of pride but also one of vexation to the community. He is a source of pride because he has embraced his role as the face of the organization and sits on committees which directly impact how the population at large views Muslims. He is a source of vexation to parents because he’s living proof that one doesn’t need a high school diploma to be successful, a fact lazy children attempt to exploit to avoid studying. Of course I’m being facetious, don’t take anything out of context, I’d still like to be able to ask him to officiate at my wedding.

I like to tell a story about Imam Tahir when it comes to Ramadan, but only because it had a profound impact on the kind of Muslim I am today. A while ago, when I was a wee tot who’d only experienced taraweeh at MCA, my father took me to SBIA on the night of the 27th, which was infamous for the night MCA took its congregation hostage till they’d reached their fundraising target. This was in the heyday of the dot com era, so I believe the target for the night was around a million dollars.

Regardless of what the target was, the fundraising staff was notoriously relentless, so my father opted to take the family to SBIA so we could actually pray instead of being harangued for cash. The night of the 27th is when SBIA finishes the Quran, and it was the first time Imam Tahir completed the Quran during taraweeh, or so I was told (I apologize if that wasn’t the case). During the witr dua, he wept openly, an act which caught me by surprise and something I asked my parents about almost as soon as I could. They explained that the Imam’s heart was still so soft he was moved to tears by the Quran, something which doesn’t happen with a lot of Muslims because we either don’t care enough or don’t have that connection with the Holy Book. It’s an image I’ve carried in my heart all these years and every time I step into SBIA I think back to that day and realize how much further I have to go before I can say I have a satisfactory connection with the Quran.

One reason why that image remains so vivid in my mind is that it seems like the mosque hasn’t changed a bit since I was a child. It’s still the same old building with the same architecture and some relatively minor interior changes, which is in stark contrast to MCA, which has made so many changes to its center hardly anyone from fifteen years ago would recognize it from the inside anymore.

I’ve always liked SBIA because of the open nature of its congregation. It was because of mosques like SBIA and MCA that I grew up thinking it was a given that men brought their wives and families to the mosque, and that women were given an equitable space to pray. Many hours of traversing the Bay Area visiting mosques have sadly shown that that’s not the case at all. Seriously, if you want to see a well-run mosque, visit them during their open house.

Taraweeh here is obviously different from MCA’s because of the strong hanafi influence (MCA is more of a pick-and-choose kind of mosque when it comes to the Islamic schools of law. I’ll explain tomorrow). There are duas plastered on the walls which would make a salafi shudder, and they’re prayers I’ve really only heard being said at hanafi mosques. There’s no harm in saying extra prayers, of course, but there are those in the Muslim community who outright attack SBIA for doing things they claim the Prophet never did. Does it really matter if we’re doing things which the Prophet never did? As Imam Tahir patiently explained at an event a couple weeks before Ramadan, there is nothing wrong with doing something from which there is only benefit, and no harm. Who cares how the taraweeh is run as long as whatever’s being done is bringing the congregation closer to God?

One of the two main entrances to the mosque.  This is technically the back entrance, but during major prayers it's as widely used as the front entrance.

Date Visited: August 12, 2011

Location:
325 North 3rd St.
San Jose, CA 95112

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Awesome. I always like how IT kicks it into overdrive for taraweeh, too.

Size of congregation: 150

Capacity of center: I think they could fit 300 people in there if they really wanted to and utilized the basement.

Parking: Street, off-street shared with a medical center and the Salvation Army

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: I believe the building used to belong to a veteran’s group. It’s a one-story structure with a basement containing a kitchen, an open area and the restrooms.

Friendliness towards women: Women are more than welcome to attend. They have full sight lines of the mihrab thanks to the magic of sizeable one-way mirrors. Men and women use the same doors to enter the building. Lots of women were coming to the masjid unaccompanied by males, which I have to say wouldn’t happen at some of the mosques I’ve visited.

Friendliness of congregation: I wanted to keep a low profile tonight, but I know the community is welcoming. Anyone is welcome to attend the community iftars.

Al-Madinah Academy (San Bruno)

Back in high school, my computer science teacher had a picture of a Fijian beach as his desktop background. Occasionally, The Vot would stop teaching, stare at the picture, and sigh. Life moves 10x slower there, he used to say, I wish I could move there. I’m happy to report that the Fijians in San Bruno have brought the niceties from the island stateside.

Tonight was the last night I was being tailed by the Bay Area News Group. I want to thank them for their time and patience with the admittedly dicey situations we experienced. I could have made the 3 days easier by picking large mosques which are set to host open houses this month, and thus used to welcoming non-Muslims. My brother did ask me why I picked such random little mosques.

I suppose my goal was to show the reporter and photographer the true diversity of the Muslim community. It did backfire, just a tad, and I was even considering calling an audible tonight and asking the photographer to meet me at a “safe” mosque. I ended up sticking to the schedule, but this time I bought an insurance policy.

I asked my San Bruno insiders, one of whom is female, to attend the mosque tonight. I was determined to do my part to ensure that the photographer see that there were friendly Muslim women in the Bay Area who wouldn’t mind having their picture taken or even talking to her. I’m thrilled to report that my plan worked perfectly because I could tell the photographer enjoyed her time with the community. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to the Muslim community of San Bruno for being so welcome to an outsider.

The San Bruno community prays at the rec center in San Bruno Park because they currently don’t have a use permit for their current mosque, mostly due to the parking issues it creates. It’s smack-dab in the middle of an old part of San Bruno and parking, already tight, became such a problem the city’s forced the community to come up with a plan to expand the mosque in a sustainable manner while allowing for growth. After all, there’s no point in building a mosque if it’ll be too small in a few years.

Fijian hospitality can’t be beat. Ramadan brings out the best in people, and the love and care they showed all of us as they were serving us food was touching. Other masajid should take notes, they could learn a little something from the Fijian community about how to throw an iftar party.

The men following isha prayer.  Throw a carpet down, grab a friend or two and you can convert any space into a place of worship.  The man in the blue fleece sweater is a graduate of JP Morgan's I-Banking Academy (mashaAllah, so accomplished!)

Date Visited: August 11, 2011

Location:
251 City Park Way
San Bruno, CA 94066

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Slow, meticulous, but pure. As I was leaving the rec center after 8 rakats, I heard the speakers causing an echo in the hallway. It was hauntingly beautiful.

Size of congregation: 30

Capacity of center: According to the posted signs, the rooms had a combined maximum capacity of 300

Parking: Street, off-street

Mihrab: No

Minbar: No

Shoe shelves: Nope

Building: A small room on the bottom floor of Veteran’s Memorial Recreation Center, located in San Bruno City Park.

Friendliness towards women: Women are actively involved in this community. Also, more importantly, they are not afraid to talk to men and spoke to me in a very courteous and welcoming manner.

Friendliness of congregation: In terms of hospitality, this congregation is off the chart, the chart being based on the other masajid I’ve visited this month. For them to take a cold meeting room in a rec center and turn it into a warm and welcoming place of worship is nothing short of amazing. The MCA in its infancy used to hold large events at the Campbell Community Center, but my level of comfort there paled in comparison to what I felt tonight.

Masjid Quba (Alameda)

After Penn Station was demolished, a New Yorker mourned its fate: “One entered the city like a god, one scuttles in now like a rat.” Similarly, to enter Alameda, you have two options: you could scuttle in through the Webster Tube, or you could cross the drawbridge like a god. I chose the former because it made my route significantly shorter, but man would it have been nice to take the bridge.

The first thing you notice about this mosque, before you even visit, is its name. Masjid Quba is a loaded name for a mosque because of its historic significance. Quba, in present-day Saudi Arabia and south of Medina, was the site of the first mosque established by the Prophet after he migrated from Mecca. The name symbolizes establishing a community after a great journey, which I suppose makes sense the more you learn about who operates this mosque.

The masjid is run and maintained by the Afghan community, who built it way back in 1986, at the height of the war in Afghanistan. The refugees were fleeing incomprehensible violence and persecution at the hands of the commies and I suppose it’s that sentiment that led them to build a mosque and name it after Quba. Were the Afghans persecuted as much as the Muslims in Mecca in the 7th century? I’m uncomfortable to say they were, and while I’m fascinated by the fact that the masjid is named after Quba, I’m not sure if it’s right that they’re trying to draw a parallel between their struggle and the Prophet and his young ummah’s struggles.

The fact that the mosque was established in 1986 also disappointed me because it doesn’t seem like the community’s made much progress in terms of developing their community. The building is a converted house which was barely big enough to hold their congregation for isha and taraweeh. Additionally, their facilities included one bathroom and two wudu stations which doubled as their sink. I might have been missing something, but I also did not see any facilities for women. Sure, there was a section of the house with a separate entrance and a curtained wall, but where could the women go to powder their noses?

If you’re a guy, though, this place is AWESOME. I was taken to the back, where they’ve laid Persian rugs in the backyard and have a fridge. I was offered something to eat, something to drink and a comfortable place to sit down. Folks were speaking exclusively in Dari, but that didn’t bother me because hey, it’s their mosque.

What bothered me was the fact that my female guests from the Contra Costa Times were not extended the same hospitality. While they were allowed inside the men’s section, I could sense that the community felt a tad uncomfortable with the two women there. Here’s the thing, and I’ve mentioned this before: these same Muslim men interact at close quarters with women all the time. What is it about some mosques that after crossing the threshold that all women must be safely tucked away behind a visual barrier? This, by the way, is in stark contrast to an almost-exclusively Afghan masjid I visited in Fremont, where women outnumbered men and damned if they were going to be praying behind a curtain. Just goes to show that one can’t stereotype about Muslim communities even by ethnic group.

I’m incredibly grateful for the hospitality the community did show me. I showed up well past iftar time but my host had his young son rustle up a plate for me. I had tea to drink and dates to snack on. It would have been a perfect experience if the congregation hadn’t known I was writing a blog post about them. As soon as they found out, they regarded me with suspicion. It was unnerving, really, the men were speaking in Dari about me, obviously, but weren’t even making eye contact. It was almost like before they could figure me out, they were going to pretend I didn’t even exist. Just another reason why it’s best to visit small mosques incognito.

After the prayer, I was followed outside by a gentleman who turned out to live in Point Richmond as well, which was great, except he got my phone number and address, and he ominously said, “we’ll be coming over.” Nightmares of TJs flooding my apartment flashed before my eyes and I hesitantly asked what he meant by “we.” He said he meant his family, but the odd thing is it’s like he expects me to just open my doors and feed his entire family. Sorry, bub, brotherhood is something to be revered, but it has a limit. Yes, Muslims are encouraged to embrace brotherhood, but I’m also sure it’s against the sunnah to show up uninvited, and worse, expect sustenance. I’m going to see how this plays out, but I may be tapping some of my connections to concoct some TJ-repellant.

The past two days have made me realize something I didn’t think of till tonight. The more well-educated the community is, the more open and receptive they are towards outsiders. My logic is the South Bay and Plesanton/San Ramon congregations, being highly-educated, work for corporations where they’re surrounded by non-Muslims. Most of these small masajid are funded by small business owners who probably exist in ethnic enclaves and therefore never get used to dealing with non-Muslims. Large, established mosques in San Jose and Santa Clara regularly have outsiders observing Friday prayers. The reaction from the community today told me that they’re not used to the same kind of attention.

Sign hanging outside the mosque

Date Visited: August 10, 2011

Location:
707 Haight Ave
Alameda, CA 94501

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Good. The hafiz they usually employ was ill today so they had a substitute. However, his recitation was still enjoyable. It was kind of funny because the sub got up to explain that the hafiz was sick and that he’d be leading the prayer. A kid didn’t hear in the back and he asked his friend what was going on. “We’re getting out early,” he said, like it was a boring class. Hilarious.

Size of congregation: 40

Capacity of center: 40

Parking: Street

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Not enough for the congregation, the stoop was littered with shoes. Considering the stoop is right on the street, not sure what kind of message that sends.

Building: A converted house with a sizeable backyard which is currently covered by Persian carpets.  To their credit, it looks very pretty inside and out.  The mihrab is made of marble and is decorated with calligraphy.  It's clear that the community takes pride in its mosque.

Friendliness towards women: Plenty of women showed up, but their section was maybe a quarter of the space allotted to the men.

Friendliness of congregation: Good, but it was a little unnerving hearing them talk about me while I was standing RIGHT THERE.