Page 163 - UAE Truncal States_Neat
P. 163

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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