Public praying?

[talktwo]

Hi ... I saw something out of the ordinary today (at least to me) ... and if anyone can perhaps shed some light on it, that would be nice to help me better understand the act.

I was walking today from North York Empress Walk towards Finch Station. As I was passing by the Hakim optical centre, I saw two Persian men (the culture may be incorrect, please correct me if I'm wrong) kneeling at the side of the store and seemingly praying and bowing. I had thought nothing of it at the time, that perhaps something tragic may have happened there. However, while I was waiting for my ride at the pick up station at Finch, they showed up 15 minutes later and conducted the same ritual where the newspaper stands were. They would kneel there and pray and bow all while facing the station.

If someone could let me know what this ritual means that would be appreciated, thank you.

[MizTEcK]

i've heard in Buddism that people would travel to a certain place and keep bowing along the way

[fakishan]

I'v heard people loose their minds.

Even the muslim equivalent of a priest wouldn't pray in public. Hard to imagine any normal arab would. Did they seem like fresh off the boat immigrants?

[talktwo]

I'v heard people loose their minds.

Even the muslim equivalent of a priest wouldn't pray in public. Hard to imagine any normal arab would. Did they seem like fresh off the boat immigrants?

Hmmm .... I don't know if they were losing their minds or not ... but it really is a subject that strikes a curious bone in me

After much research on the net, I can say their clothing is very simliar to a Kameez with a Kufi adorning their head, they were also carrying mats with them to kneel on. Please excuse me, I'm quite ignorant about the South and Central Asian cultures.

As far as being fresh off the boat ... it's a possibility ... don't really know ...

[itsyours]

i've heard in Buddism that people would travel to a certain place and keep bowing along the way

False! Buddhists usually sit on top of the Buddha statues and smile.

[Rehan]

Even the muslim equivalent of a priest wouldn't pray in public. Hard to imagine any normal arab would. Did they seem like fresh off the boat immigrants?

I've seen Muslim men praying in hallways at universities and even at airports... I'm sure the hallway of a shopping mall is acceptable to some people.


talktwo, the pictures at http://hem.passagen.se/kasim/islam/s...ALAT/pray.html show how most Muslims pray. If that's what you saw, then they were just performing their obligatory daily prayers...there are 5 of those each day. You can see the timings of their prayers at http://www.torontomuslims.com/ (on the right side). According to those timings, the fajr dawn prayer is to be prayed between 5:50 AM and 7:13 AM, the dhuhr noon prayer between 12:07 PM and 2:30 PM (or 3:08 PM, according to some scholars), the asr afternoon prayer between 2:30 PM (or 3:08 PM) and 4:51 PM, etc. Those times change throughout the year as the days get shorter or longer.

[Boss_Scorpius]

After much research on the net, I can say their clothing is very simliar to a Kameez with a Kufi adorning their head, they were also carrying mats with them to kneel on. Please excuse me, I'm quite ignorant about the South and Central Asian cultures.

I highly doubt they're Persian if they were wearing what you're describing they're wearing. They were probably Arab.

[fakishan]

I've seen Muslim men praying in hallways at universities and even at airports... I'm sure the hallway of a shopping mall is acceptable to some people.

I stand corrected. I'v never seen it, and the muslim friends I had in high school said the same.

[cOmAtOaSt]

They were thanking god for Hakim optical.

[SquealADeal]

They were praying they would show up on RFD message boards.

[Rehan]

They were thanking god for Hakim optical.

They were praying they would show up on RFD message boards.

There are two kinds of "prayers" in Islam: salat and dua.

Salat refers to the 5 obligatory prayers, which are ritual prayers recited in Arabic at specific times and in a specific way (see the link above). Dua is a simple personal prayer that can be recited at any time and in any language and it is done without the motions like bowing and kneeling...dua is the type that is similar to the Christian concept of praying to ask for something.

These guys were just reciting salat, so they weren't asking for anything or thanking God for anything specific...they were just doing the prescribed rituals.

(Yes, I know you guys made those comments as a joke...but I thought I'd explain the difference between salat and dua anyway. )

[talktwo]

I've seen Muslim men praying in hallways at universities and even at airports... I'm sure the hallway of a shopping mall is acceptable to some people.


talktwo, the pictures at http://hem.passagen.se/kasim/islam/s...ALAT/pray.html show how most Muslims pray. If that's what you saw, then they were just performing their obligatory daily prayers...there are 5 of those each day. You can see the timings of their prayers at http://www.torontomuslims.com/ (on the right side). According to those timings, the fajr dawn prayer is to be prayed between 5:50 AM and 7:13 AM, the dhuhr noon prayer between 12:07 PM and 2:30 PM (or 3:08 PM, according to some scholars), the asr afternoon prayer between 2:30 PM (or 3:08 PM) and 4:51 PM, etc. Those times change throughout the year as the days get shorter or longer.

Hmmm ... ok thanks for the information. I really did find it quite odd though ... after praying at Hakim ... 15 minutes later to come pray at Finch station.