The ritual was held in a mosque in Brea, CA at about noon. The ritual is held at noon because that is the time of day that Muslims pray each Friday. I was told that Friday prayers are supposed to be done on a person’s break, a time of the day to stop and pray for their religion. Somewhat similar to the lunch hours that take place in some Spanish speaking countries, only the Muslims spend this hour praying. The ethnicity is that of Middle Easterners with my interviewees being from Pakistan. The class of p

This ritual invites all people of the Muslim race to pray to their god, Allah, a common interest. An important part of the ritual is that anyone can participate and everyone is encouraged to participate in this voluntary association. It is not limited to a social class, gender or family. It is important to note that the Mullah is not of any higher social class than the rest of the people participating. He is simply leading the ceremony because he is a local person with the ability. If there is a Mullah from another area, he may only lead the prayers with proper permission. The rest of the people do not have particular roles, they are simply praying and gathering. Social status is virtually non-existent in this ritual, but ethnicity is important because this is something that has been done for thousands of years, starting in the Holy City of Mecca. The routine hasn’t changed for people of this ethnicity. The value of friendship is strong but in a different way than the common term friendship. In my interview, Komail explained that it is a friendship among all Muslim people versus the common friends we think of today. A friendship with any person who shares your beliefs. It is also important to note that any person older than you may be termed aunt or uncle. However, separate terms of address are actually used for true aunts and uncles. Family is a large part of this ritual because your community starts with your family and works its way out to your neighboring peoples (about 11 miles to be exact). The ritual communicates very explicit ideals about a gender. The norms involving “preserving the sexuality of women,” (Komail) speak very clearly for the value of honor. Women play an important role in the value of honor, not because they are looked at as highly honorable, but because they are looked at as a potential threat. By this I mean that a man preserves his honor by not committing any acts that a woman tempted him into: adultery, rape, and so on. Women are seen as a temptation and so they are kept covered and separate from the men. Women can even hurt their own value of honor and purity by being a temptation.

There are only two symbols that I found to be of importance in this ritual. The first has to do with the stick that the Mullah carries with him while leading the ceremony. Allegedly, Mullahs were often attacked after ceremonies in the past and so they still carry them now as tradition. The other important symbol was that the ceremony must always face the Kabah. The Kabah is the house of Allah in the Holy City of Mecca, which means they face northeast in the United States. This norm protects the values placed on worshipping Allah to the fullest extent. The fact that there were no real symbols or objects of great importance is characteristic of the fact that equality is stressed. Nobody is better than anybody else and there are no social rankings. There are no objects or sym

Some topics in this essay:
Instead Abraham, City Mecca, Middle Easterners, Bible Usually, Allah Muhammad, Brea CA, Mormons Judaism, Muslim Race, Shama Mooman, Allegedly Mullahs, value honor, pray allah, ritual held, holy city mecca, held mosque brea, rape women, stick tradition, prayer meetings, brea ca, mosque brea ca, muslim race, share common belief, held mosque, abraham sacrificing goat, carry proceedings,