By Bethany Miller
b-miller.11@onu.edu
“If you have a river and you have, for example a shirt, and you wash it five times a day, that shirt will be all the time clean right?” asks Khalid Al-Olimat, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and adviser of the Muslim Student Association.
This is the metaphor he uses to explain the reason behind the five daily prayers Muslims are required to perform. Al-Olimat says that just as with the shirt being washed, if you pray five times a day, you will be purified, and your sins will be wiped away.
But one prayer, the Jum’ah, is considered to be the most important of all the prayers said during the week. Sami Khorbotly, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, sees the Jum’ah prayer as a time to be reminded of God’s blessings.
“We live in a materialistic world unfortunately, and we tend sometimes to get involved with everything around us and forget about the bounties and the blessings that we enjoy; so at least once a week, you should be reminded of the big picture and of the blessings,” he says.
On Fridays at noon, Muslims from all over the world gather in their communities to pray the Jum’ah. This includes the Muslim community of Ohio Northern University.
Al-Olimat explains before Jum’ah that the prayer is held on Friday because the Prophet Mohammed said that it was on a Friday that Adam was born. Mohammed also said Adam was brought into Paradise, and expelled from paradise on a Friday.
He also said that for Muslims, Friday is the last day of the week. By praying together on Friday, Muslims to purify themselves of the sins of the past week before the new week starts.
“If you go to the Jum’ah prayer your sins will be wiped for the whole past week as long  as of course you are performing the five prayers every day,” Al-Olimat says.
In the multi-faith room of the chapel, students and faculty gather, each removing their shoes as they step into the room which will be used for the Jum’ah prayer. As they greet each other warmly and converse about events going on during the day, it is clear to see that this is in itself a community.
Attendance of the Jum’ah prayer is mandatory for all adult males in Islam and it is encouraged for women and children to attend. The gathering of Muslims for this prayer is central to the prayer itself – no Muslim is to say the Jum’ah prayer on their own.
But more than just being mandatory, the community prayer time helps to build and strengthen the relationships among those in the Muslim community.
“I like seeing other Muslims at least every once a week to see how they’re doing, and socialization is good too,” Khorbotly says.
Soon the room becomes quiet, and the call for Muslims to come to the Jum’ah prayer – chanted in Arabic – is heard throughout the room. Everyone in the room is soon performing raka’ – the motion of prostrating oneself so that a person’s forehead touches the floor while also reciting prayers.
P3 Chernoh Bah, president of the Muslim Student Association, later explains that this is the point at which a person is considered closest to God – when they are prostrated before him and thus show themselves as being submissive to Allah (the Islamic name for God).
The leader, known as the Imam, then walks to the front of the room to recite verses from the Quran, the Islamic holy book.
For this particular week’s Jum’ah prayer, Sami Khorbotly acts as Imam. After the recitation of the Quran, he begins his sermon – speaking about the ways in which a Muslim may have the punishment for their sins reduced. The others listen intently to the words of the Imam.
Al-Olimat explains that during the Imam’s sermon, something about the religion may be revealed that those present did not already know. In this way, Muslims can learn something new about their faith each time they come to Jum’ah.
“When you are doing that every Friday and you are gaining knowledge that, of course, will enrich your knowledge of all the religion which leads to a better belief or faith in the religion,” Al-Olimat says.
He also explains before the Jum’ah prayer that the sermon can change each week. Some weeks, it speaks to ways in which Muslims can act as better people, other weeks it may be a reflection on the meaning of the Quran.
Following the sermon is the group prayer. Shoulder to shoulder, the members of this Muslim community form two lines, once again prostrating themselves while saying the prayers of their faith.
Chernoh Bah later explains that although each of the prayers is structured, there is some room for additional prayers to be said.
Khorbotly compares the prayer to schoolwork.
“You can always do extra work for extra credit, you can always pray additionally and ask God for more things, but the required is only one main prayer,” he says.
Once Jum’ah prayer is completed, the students arise along with the faculty, they share in the fellowship of one another and soon they have gone back to their regular activities and duties. But they leave having been purified, reminded of the blessings of God, and bonded in community with their fellow Muslims.