THE Prophet's Mosque filled to the brim with worshipers from all over the world is a beautiful sight to behold. And every Ramadan this vision of piety can be observed. As people from Madinah, we take pride and pleasure to play host to these guests of Allah who come from countries afar to pray and worship during the holy month. During the last ten days of Ramadan, the Prophet's Mosque gets overcrowded to a level where there is little space inside the mosque, on the roof and on the yards surrounding it. To me this is a blessing from Allah. However, a good picture is not always complete till the faults too are painted in the big picture. Amid this glowing vision I keep noticing many negativities happening either because of ignorance or because of carelessness. Such negativities invariably bother many as I keep noticing little arguments erupting between worshipers every now and then. I even know many people, who are regulars at the mosque and are seen quietly and piously praying at the Prophet's Mosque, get upset over the violations they see and some have urged me to write about it hoping that officials could take action to avert these niggling issues. Exactly last year I remember writing an article titled "Disrespecting the Prophet's Mosque" and today I have added just one more word in this article's title — ‘again'. To start with, I noticed that many worshipers sadly are confusing the Prophet's Mosque with a hotel. Some worshipers who claim that they were doing Itikaf, which is an Islamic practice consisting of a period of staying in a mosque for a certain number of days and devoting oneself to worship during these days and staying away from worldly affairs, are seen spending most of their day sleeping and snoring inside the holy mosque. Some of these people are inconsiderate even in their sleep by taking up space of five people as they snore away their zzzzzs. One day, during this period when I walked into the Prophet's Mosque half an hour before Asr prayer, there was a sea of bodies on the ground with the snores providing an impromptu array of noise at varying decibels. Amid this cacophony, there were people praying and reading the Qur'an. Though they were bothered by the snores, they bore it in silence knowing that they could not do anything to stop it. I saw one old man, who could not focus on praying lose his temper over a man snoring away in his sleep next to him. He pulled the pillow from under the head of the sleeping man and threw it away while shouting at him to sleep outside. I am in no way against those who are there for Itikaf, but there are many who are not. In my opinion, the Prophet's Mosque is not a place for sleeping for long hours nor it is a spot for chatting with friends. This lack of respect for others implies that these people treat the holy place as a hotel. During the holy month, people should read Qur'an and pray. Those who are not doing Itikaf, and choose to sleep at the holy site, should desist from this action. They can sleep at their hotels. I asked one expat worshiper, thinking that he had come from abroad, why he was not sleeping at his hotel? He told me that he is an overstayer and lives in a room in Madinah with few of his friends. He said that he prefers it here, as the Prophet's Mosque is a comfortable place to sleep in, plenty of food and water around. Then there is this common practice of people reserving a place inside the mosque for their friends. This is practiced by all nationalities even Saudis. A man on finding a spot marks another place next to him with a piece of cloth or hat and then claims it was for his friend, who has just gone out to get something and will come back. This practice is wrong as the Prophet's Mosque is for everyone and the available places are for those who come first. What's abrasive and combative is they push anyone who attempts to sit in this reserved place, especially if he is from another nationality. If the person is from the same nationality, then by magic they will make space available for him to sit. Where is the brotherhood in this picture? There are those who make ‘wudu', ritual washing to be performed in preparation for prayer and worship, inside the mosque. Despite the designated places for bathrooms, some worshipers are too lazy and tend to fill cups and use them to make wudu, making the carpets wet or the floors slippery. A person walking too fast without spotting the wet place may slip and fall to the ground because of the wet floors. The reason why I consider it disrespectful is because worshipers know the negativity of such act and its impact on other worshipers. Yet they choose callously to do it. What is the point of coming to a place that a person does not have any respect for. The Prophet's Mosque is a sacred place and precious to all Muslims. People come from all over the world to see an organized place where all these negative acts do not exist. Authorities have created an anti-negative phenomenon committee to fight violations around the Prophet's Mosque such as begging and selling illegally. It is time now for a similar committee inside the Prophet's Mosque with people speaking different languages giving people proper advise and seeing that the people heed the advise and act correctly. Although it was announced that Itikaf was smooth, I think more organizing is needed which should include an awareness drive on proper etiquette during this period inside the Prophet's Mosque. As for us people, we should know we are in a sacred place and our behavior should be better than the one inside our homes. Respecting the place does not require any teaching but true love and respect for the place. Guidelines should be put in place and all should be aware of it and practice it. We should not be in a situation to receive any guidance from authorities on how to behave inside the Prophet's Mosque. — The writer can be reached at [email protected] Twitter: @anajeddawi_eng
