Page 163 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Four

At the main mosque of the larger towns an imam was employed
who led the prayers and delivered the khulbah on Fridays. In most
other mosques the imams were not specially-trained people who had
no other occupation, they were inulawwa’ who led the prayers—as
in fact in the absence of an imam anyone could do. But by unspoken
common consent the eldest, most respected or best-read person in a
congregation would do this. In mosques which were built by or for
ethnic or religious communities, for instance the Baluch communities
on the east coast or the Shl'ah of Dubai,31 the leader of that
community was often also the leader in prayer. Such minorities did
not necessarily gather in their own mosque on Friday morning, but
also came into the town’s big mosque—with the exception of the
Shi’ah of the Bastaklyah.

Religious theory and practice
The ways in which the manifestation of the Islamic faith are woven
into the daily life have not changed. As elsewhere and in other
religions, women are probably the most devout members of the
community, strictly observing the correct times for prayers and
praying for longer. Traditionally they are not expected to pray in
mosques.32 If men did not find themselves near a mosque at prayer
time, they spread out a rug or their headcloth on the ground to
perform the salat (prayer) there and then. If several men happened to
be together, they might pray individually or else line up behind the
most respected among them and follow him as imam. Unless
travelling or far from a house, perhaps out in the desert, women
prayed inside a house, either at home or wherever they happened to
be visiting at the time. Even while visitors and children were present
in the same room, they each got up in turn from the circle where they
had been sitting talking; they would leave another member of the
female gathering to entertain the guest and to keep an eye on the
children. After the ritual ablutions women took off their masks and
embroidered veils (shailah) and wound a simple cloth round the head
and shoulders before beginning their often prolonged prayers.
If at all possible everyone performs the prescribed ablutions with
water before praying, but in the desert, where men lived off the milk
of their camels and water was not always available, sand was a
permissible substitute.33
Few of the people living in the Trucial States before the advent of
oil could afford to dedicate their lives entirely to religious studies; yet
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