Mothers with toddlers and children find it increasingly difficult to participate in the congregational Taraweeh prayer during the holy month of Ramadan as some of the mosques here are not allowing children inside the premises. Most of the mosques in Dammam have employed women volunteers who take care that children do not enter the place of worship along with their mothers. Some of the mosques have even posted notices on the entrances and walls saying ‘no children allowed'. Ameena, an Indian national, with her 8-year-old daughter in tow, wanted to offer Taraweeh prayer in a mosque in Adama District here. Her daughter was made to stand outside by the female guard while Ameena prayed inside. “My daughter is eight years old and she prays all the salahs at home. I took her to the mosque to make her aware of the virtue of Taraweeh prayers and the virtue of congregational prayers. But unfortunately, she had to face a bad experience of staying outside in the hot and humid weather. It was like a punishment for her,” Ameena told Saudi Gazette. She added that it would be better if a special row was earmarked for praying children and a female guard keeping an eye on them. “The female guard anyways is not praying and is just keeping children away from the mosque. She can very well make arrangements for children to pray in the back row. I tried suggesting this to her, but she was very adamant,” Ameena said. Umm Noor, a Saudi national, was upset with the behavior of the female guard. Her 7-year-old daughter Noor accompanied her to the mosque for Taraweeh, but was forced to stay outside. “It is so hot outside; she could have been asked to pray in the back row along with other young girls. This is the mosque close to my house and that is why I came here but unfortunately there is no place for children here. We have to teach our children the culture of praying and the behavior inside the mosque and so on. How can we do that if they are banned from entering the mosque? This is outrageous because I did not bring my two-year-old to mosque as I know he would disturb the prayers. I left him with the maid but my daughter is old enough to pray,” she said. Nevertheless, the female guard said that she had strict orders from the ‘Sheikh', not to allow children inside the mosque while Isha and Taraweeh prayers are going on. When asked about the age group of children that should not be allowed, she simply kept quiet. Most of the mosques Saudi Gazette visited in Dammam have placed praying mat outside the mosque to let children pray from there, but the extreme hot climate makes them very tired and cranky. However, some mosques here let children pray in the back row without causing disturbance to others. Mothers with young girls of five and six want their children to be allowed to pray in the mosque along with grown ups so that they can learn and experience the importance of praying and they want the authorities to issue some guidelines regarding this.
