Anyway, today after work we decided to go to Mall of the Emirates, which has now become a regular stomping ground as it literally has EVERYTHING in it, including an all-in-one store the size of 2 Wal-Marts, clothing stores, banks, food courts, movie theatres, ski slopes...you get the idea. Anyway, we went at around 6 pm...around 7 pm, the call to prayer began to sound:
Prayer call in the mall (just click play on the page that pops up)
You can hear me and my friends talking in the background, but what was so interesting to me was, all of the people sitting around us, from all cultures, most if not all of them NOT Muslim, did not bat an eye. It was like a little interlude, and then when it was finished, it was as if it never happened.
The prayer call happens 5 times a day, as Muslims are supposed to pray at dawn, mid-morning, mid-afternoon, evening, and then later at night. There are two mosques in this mall, one for women and one for men, and I have witnessed people spilling out into the corridors of the mall when the mosques were full. They actually section off certain passages when it gets too crowded, because they have to take off your shoes and they lay out these large prayer rugs for everyone. All part of the clash of western-style malls with traditional habits.
That's all my relevant news for now--besides the fact that the internet probably won't be installed in my building for another 3 weeks. Amazing. Although, everything is under construction all over the place, constantly, as the pictures below show. These are the cranes (it's like a halo effect!) at the Trump International Hotel and Apartments site on the Palm Jumeirah, which is one of the man-made palms off the coast of Dubai. It has been given the moniker "8th wonder of the world" over here--a bit optimistic, don't you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment