This year's middle school program, Crossing Paths, culminated their study of Islam this month with a visit to the masjid ('mosque' in Arabic) in Colchester yesterday. Many thanks to our hosts at the Islamic Society of Vermont and the youth, parents, and facilitators who made the field trip possible! Great to be building layers of friendship and understanding with other faith groups right here in Vermont! One of the facilitators, Cara Robechek, shared this recap of the visit...
We had a very interesting visit to the Islamic Center in Colchester yesterday. After a quick meeting at UCM, and a chance for the youth to share with our adult travel companions a little about the 5 pillars of Islam, we split up into 4 cars and headed to Colchester. The Islamic Center is in the Fort Ethan Allen complex (though it will be moving to S. Burlington next month). When we arrived we took off our shoes at the door and put them in cubbies (they have a great system with a mat to step onto out of your boots/shoes so your sock feet don't get wet). We were welcomed in and asked to sit in the back of their large open worship room until after the prayer. We observed dozens of children coming out of their Sunday morning religious education program, and eventually everyone assembled into two long lines, men in front, women in back. The actual prayer was only about 5 minutes (their main "service" is Friday evenings, so we were not there for that).
After the prayer time the families began to leave and we sat down with Imam Islam and the president of the Islamic Society for 30-45 minutes and asked questions. We learned that the 5 daily prayers are timed to the exact location where you are, and that most people now have apps on their phone that tell them when to pray. We learned a bit more about the Hajj. We learned that this particular Mosque has immigrant families from all around the world that attend. We learned a little about this Imam's approach to the Quran including that it teaches peace and compassion, not violence. I think we all felt welcomed and that they were glad we had come to visit.
We then went on to Pizza Hut and reflected a bit on the experience. Some interesting observations included the cleanliness of the space (since everything happens on the floor, sitting, praying, etc.) and the fact that because people are praying according to the sunrise and sunset times, there are probably people praying to Mecca at all times across the various timezones. ~Cara
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