34 - Sunday, March 3, 1991- North Shore News

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MOSLEMS PRAY five times daily. Here Gul and Aziz Khaki bend
to show praise of God's majesty, one of several prostrations in
the salat. Moslems always face toward Mecca when they offer
their prayers, to commemorate the revelation of the Koran to
Moharnmead In Mecca.

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Prayer is central to Islam

THE CONFLICT in the Persian Gulf brought the people of the Middle
East and their religion, Islam, into the spotlight. This week Spiritually
Speaking talks to Aziz Khaki about one central aspect of Islam —
prayer. Khaki is a practising Moslem active in multiculturalism. He is
the interfaith coordinator for the Council of Moslem Communities of

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“Islam has been the most misunderstood religion in the
west,’’ says Aziz Khaki unabashedly, as he tackles his

tempura lunch with multicultural enthusiasm.

He believes people have not re-
ally made a sincere attempt to
understand Islam and have
distorted its ‘‘real spirit.’’ Also,
people make generalizations about
all Moslems from what they see in
the media — which to this point
consists mainly of Moslem ter-
rorists and extremists who hardly
represent the tenets of Islam.

But, he concurs, ‘‘Moslems
ourselves have not done our
public relations.... The human face
has not been shown to the
Western people.’

Khaki willingly reveals Islam’s
human, quotidian side. ‘‘Prayer,”’
he explains, ‘‘is central to Islam.
It is one of the five pillars of faith
which include the Profession of
Faith, Almsgiving, The Fast of
Ramadan and Holy Pilgrimage.”

But it differs from Christian
prayer in several ways.

“In Islam, unlike in Christiani-
ty,’? says Khaki, ‘‘the human be-
ing is not born a sinner because of
the original sin. He is born pure,
that’s why there is individual re-
sponsibility — there is no mediary
between you and your creator.

“But the human being has one
weakness -~ forgetfulness,’’ he
says with a wry smile. ‘‘That is
why the ...five time prayers was

By Barbara Black
News Reporter

prescribed. It’s not a once a week
exercise.’”

Moslems are to pray five times
daily at day-break, noon, mid-
afternoon, sunset and evening.
Before prayer, they must perform
ablutions, washing the forehead,
feet and hands in order to be
mentally and physically prepared.

“When you are doing the ablu-
tion you are making yourself at
peace,’’ Khaki says. *‘Islam says if
your mind is foggy, do not offer
your prayers.”"

The obligatory prayer is always
taken from the Koran and recited
in the original Arabic, not in the
vernacular. Every Moslem is
responsible for learning the many
Arabic verses of the Koran.

In Moslem countries you will
hear the cry of the muezzin from
atop the mosque’s minaret an-
nouncing the faithful to come to

prayer at the prescribed times
throughout the day.
In Vancouver, (there is no

mosque on the North Shore)
because mosques are situated in
areas where there are non-
Moslems, the muezzin makes his
announcement as people enter the
mosque.

In recent televised pictures of
the inside of mosques, Western
viewers have remarked on the
absence of women.

“The women are usually behind
or in another room,’’ says Khaki,
(while his female assistant looks
slightly disgruntled) ‘‘going

See Prayer page 36

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