This mosque is in a converted warehouse/loading dock facility. As such, it is a huge building. Half of the building is devoted to prayer space - the other half to kitchens, the mosque office and as yet undefined open space. It is obvious that they are still renovating the building. There is minimal decor in the prayer spaces - white walls and striped green carpeting. Most of the people who attend this mosque have origins in the subcontinent. The core are Guyanese and Trinidadians whose ancestors came from India, but I also caught snippets of Urdu and Bengali being spoken. The women's prayer area is about 1/4 of the men's but this being a huge building, that is a lot of space. It is clean and bright and looks to be the equivalent of the men's prayer space. There is actually more natural light in the woman's area because it has more windows. The men and women are separated by a drywall wall about 6 feet tall. So, as a woman it is not possible to see any of what is going on in the men's prayer area although the khutba is quite audible. There are TVs set up, I assume to allow women to see what is going on - but while they were on when I was there the video camera that feeds them was not being operated so they displayed only static. The khutba was in English, alhamdullilah, and the duas were in English and Arabic. After prayer, a Pakistani couple sold perfumes, headscarfs, abayas, Islamic tapes and books, etc. from a table in the large, open common area. Women from the community sold various curries and boxes of Popeye's chicken. Water was available for the thirsty from large filtered water coolers and a drinking fountain. The bath/wudu rooms were rudimentary but clean. There is no wheelchair ramp but there is only a small step up into the building which is all on one level. So, if you can get someone to help you with the one step you can access everything else from there easily. Nice comfortable space for sisters, if you do not mind not being able to see.

ruhafsa

2005-08-26