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In Lodi, a large number of Pakistani immigrants worship Islam. Their religious center is the Lodi Muslim Mosque on Poplar Street, a busy place that serves an estimated 2,000 Muslims, with as many as 500 attending Friday prayer each week. The mosque, an inconspicuous building across the street from the Lodi Boys and Girls Club, is the headquarters for Islam for the Lodi area. Islamic teachings say the mosque should be functional and clean, but it shouldn’t stand out, said the former Lodi mosque President Nasim Khan. The mosque has few decorations. The room where prayer is conducted resembles a large multipurpose room rather than a chapel.The walls of the Lodi mosque are limited to Islamic calligraphy and verses from the Koran, sometimes spelled Quran, the Islamic counterpart to the Bible. The mosque also has two posters with the word Allah on it, a bookcase full of religious books and a platform from which the imam, or spiritual leader, can be seen while giving his sermons. “We don’t have icons or images of any kind,” Khan said. “It’s strictly forbidden.” You won’t even have images of Muhammad, the prophet whose teachings in the seventh century form the basis for Islam. “One of the greatest sins (in Islam) is to portray him in a picture or a drawing,” Khan said. “Muhammad is revered, but not worshiped in any way. That was his teaching.” Unlike Jesus Christ, whom Christians believe is the son of God, Muhammad was a mortal human being who spread the word of God, Nasim Khan said. “Muhammad emphasized he was just a messenger,” he said. Khan acknowledged that he is curious about what Muhammad looked like, but he said he doesn’t need to see illustrations or photographs. A complete physical description has been documented in print so he can form is own visual image of what Muhammad looked like. Muslims pray five times each day — at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and at night. Friday is as significant to Muslims as Sunday is to Christians. At 1 p.m. each Friday (2 p.m. during daylight-saving time), Muslims gather for their special prayer of the week. On other days, Muslim men may pray at home or wherever they happen to be as long as the ground is clean. But Friday prayer must take place at the mosque. Men with jobs go to great lengths to attend Friday prayer, which lasts about a half-hour. Aman Khan, president of the Lodi Muslim Mosque, often takes Friday off from his job as a pharmacist for Longs Drugs in Lodi and works on Saturday or Sunday. At other times, he adjusts his lunch hour to accommodate Friday prayer. Women don’t participate in Friday prayer, at least at the mosque. “At this particular mosque, it’s men only,” said Nasim Khan, no relation to Aman Khan. “We don’t have the facilities to accommodate them.” Women are allowed into larger mosques, such as the ones in Stockton and San Jose. In Stockton, men and women have different entrances and pray in different rooms. In San Jose, where Nasim Khan once lived, women use the back of the room and pray as a separate group. “The mosque is a place for meditation and prayer,” Nasim Khan said. “When you have women there, you’re always going to have (a distraction) at a place of worship. Men and women don’t intermingle.” When entering the mosque to pray, shoes must be removed at the entrance out of respect for the mosque, said Nasim Kahn. The floor needs to be kept clean because chairs are not used during prayer. During a recent Friday’s prayer, Muhammad Adil, serving as imam on an interim basis, gave a sermon in Arabic, also called Khutba. That day’s sermon was about Ramadan, where Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset from Nov. 17 through Dec. 16. The second part of Friday prayer has the hundreds of men present to join in for prayer. A majority of the Muslims present wore some type of headgear out of respect for Allah. Any type of headgear is appropriate, said Aman Khan. Prior to Friday prayer, each person must wash his hands and arms up to the elbows, his face, head and feet. The emphasis is on being clean. “If you miss some of these things, your prayer is not valid,” Aman Khan said. “You have to do it again.” Prayer involves men, wearing loose-fitting clothing, bending on their knees with their head to the floor. Their nose and forehead must touch the floor, which is why the floor must be clean. “When you put your head on the ground, it’s something you only do before God,” Nasim Khan said. “You don’t do it in front of a king. It is a gesture of humility reserved only for God himself.” Women aren’t required to participate in Friday prayer at the mosque. “They have to look after the family, the kids,” Adil said. “They are busy there. They don’t have time. We (men) have the time to come.” Women still have to pray, but it’s all right for them to pray at home while the men pray at the mosque, at least for Friday prayer, Adil said. Friday’s other four prayers, plus the five prayers on all other days can be done at home or any other location where the ground is clean, said Nasim Khan. Women are exempt from praying during their menstrual cycle after giving birth, because prayer calls for bending on one’s knees and touching their head to the floor, Aman Khan said. One of Islam’s major customs is Ramadan, which began Nov. 17 and continues through Dec. 16. During Ramadan, Muslims refrain from food, drink and sex from sunrise to sunset each day during the month-long period. The times to fast are very precise. For example, on Thanksgiving Day, eating and drinking are forbidden from 5:26 a.m. until 4:55 p.m. Some people set their alarm early enough to eat before sunrise, said Aman Khan. Fasting during Ramadan is through Allah’s command that will be rewarded with Paradise, Adil said. “This month is a month of patience, too,” Adil said. “It shows how those who go hungry need help.” Anyone who is weak or sick can be excused from fasting during Ramadan, said Aman Khan. However, they must feed 60 poor people one time for each fast they miss, he said. Most Muslim adults in Lodi grew up in Pakistan, although about 40 members of the mosque are Palestinian, about 10 are from Yemen and 10 others are from Afghanistan, said Aman Khan. A Palestinian, Mohamad Hussien, is the mosque’s treasurer. He has lived in Lodi since 1982 and is in his fifth year on the mosque’s board of directors. “They are my brothers,” Hussien said of the Pakistani-dominated Lodi mosque. “Living and getting along with them is an order from Allah.” Muslims are to treat people of all races and cultures with manners and respect, Hussien said. “We are on Earth to pass the exam — the exam from God,” he said. The Lodi Muslim Mosque is run by an 11-member board of directors. As president, Aman Khan is responsible for the overall administration of the mosque operation. He and the imam are the mosque’s spokesmen. The president usually serves for two years; however, sometimes a vote of the membership is conducted after one year. Nasim Khan served as president for two years until July of this year, when the membership elected Aman Khan. Aman Khan was born in Pakistan in the Northwest Frontier Province, 50 to 60 miles east of the Afghanistan border. Khan is a very common name in the province, he said. In fact, four of the Lodi mosque leaders are named Khan — Aman, Nasim, Shujah and Taj. None are related. To avoid confusion in Pakistan, legal transactions are signed with the person’s name, followed by his father’s and paternal grandfather’s names. For example, a birth certificate or other document would say “Aman Khan, son of Abdul Khan, grandson of Behram Khan.” Aman Khan moved to England 36 years ago when he was 11 years old. He graduated from the pharmacy department at University of the Pacific in Stockton in 1986 and started working the following year at Longs Drugs at West Lodi Avenue and South Church Street. The mosque board is busy looking for an imam to serve the Lodi mosque on a permanent basis. Yosuf Bhola was Lodi’s imam for more than 10 years. He left the mosque about two years ago and now heads the Stockton Mosque. Jawad Ahmed served for about a year before leaving for the East Coast, where he is now principal at an Islamic school, said Nasim Khan. The selection process begins after the board decides what the Lodi Muslim Mosque’s needs are. Aman Khan says the next imam should speak English and become a leader in the community as well as the mosque. Prospective imams are trained through four or five years studying the Koran at an Islamic university, most of which are in Europe and Asia, said Aman Khan. Board members look for potential imams through such channels as advertising in Islamic magazines, searching the Internet and through word of mouth. The building on Poplar Street that houses the mosque was purchased by the mosque in about 1978, said Nasim Khan. Prior to the Lodi mosque opening, Muslims in the community went to Sacramento, especially for Friday prayer. |
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Contents »Pakistanis leave their native land to find Lodi |
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