During our visit to the Madina Masjid Mosque in Sheffield, we saw breath-taking architecture all over the building. When we walked in we had to take our shoes off because the soles of shoes are seen as dirty and unsanitary. The room where we first met our tour guide (Zahid) was filled with gorgeous designs on the roof and sides of the walls; some of which are of the 99 names of Allah. In Islam you cannot have pictures and statues of Allah so all of the art work was beautiful calligraphy.
We then went to the Wudu room; wudu or ablution is the ritual washing Muslims must do before praying. Ablution can last between prayer times but only if the cleanliness has not been broken, even going to the toilet requires the wash sequence to be repeated. Zahid then demonstrated how to perform wudu. After this we got to look at the library – it has countless bookcases filled with copies of the Qur’an, which are kept high up to keep them safe and to show respect.
The Prayer Halls are carpeted areas to pray in, Muslims will pray 5 times a day as this is part of their duty as a Muslim due to the 5 pillars. In the main prayer hall downstairs there are clocks showing the times of prayer on the walls so Muslims know what time they should be praying. The upstairs prayer room contains the most gorgeous, beautiful and magnificent chandelier we have ever seen alongside a gold leaf qibla wall which allows Muslims to know the direction of Mecca.
During our trip some of our Muslim classmates demonstrated how to pray and recite a portion of the Quran – this demonstrates our Wickersley Way because they were not afraid to rise to the challenge and it allowed us to listen to them and support them with this achievement.
“I loved the trip and found it very eye opening about how Muslims live their daily lives.” – Alicia Harry
“The mosque trip was really good and Zahid, who gave us the tour, was really nice and answered all of our questions. I’m really glad that going to a mosque is a school trip because I would have never had the chance to see one. Thank you to Zahid for showing us around and to our teachers for taking us.” – India Wilding
Written by the RE ambassadors: Jack Winterman, Isla Tattershall, Sofia Skalycz, Alicia Harry & India Wilding
