Year 10 GCSE Visit to Masjid-E-Saliheen

19 March 2024

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On Thursday, the year 10 RE GCSE students visited the Masjid-E-Saliheen Mosque as a way to broaden their knowledge for the Islam module of their course. We were lucky enough to be able to attend during prayer time, allowing us to see what it’s like for Muslims to perform their daily ritual prayer. Throughout the trip, we were guided by an Imam. The whole mosque was decorated with intricate geometric shapes which lined almost every wall and ceiling, along with Arabic calligraphy that had been beautifully painted onto the walls by hand.

Before the prayer, we were lucky enough to hear an adhan (call to prayer) being performed by the muezzin through the microphone to be received in people’s houses.

We learned that during prayer time, all the men pray standing together in a line to represent them being equal in the eyes of Allah (God). Women pray separately, so as to not distract men during prayer, when their attention should solely be on God. We were also shown the classrooms where children are taught Arabic and about the Islamic faith.

We were also shown where people perform their ablutions – the act of washing to be physically and spiritually cleansed before prayer, called wudu in Arabic. Cleanliness is very important inside the mosque, which was demonstrated by us having to take off our shoes to walk around.

Here is what some of the students said about this trip:

Mely – I learned the process of wudu, the process of prayer and that ‘Allahu Akbar’ means ‘God is the greatest.

Freddie – I heard the words God is the greatest in the call to prayer. I also heard he Arabic names for lots of prophets that are in the Bible and also in the Quran.

Salwa – As a Muslim, I did not learn anything new, but I enjoyed the experience of visiting a different mosque than the one I attend

Donell and Katelyn - to experience people actually performing prayer was a valuable experience.

Theo - I enjoyed the muezzin and his call to prayer. It was mesmerising.

Paige - I learned the names of the prayers and how the times move throughout the year.

Karlina – I like watching Mr Barrow getting wet through when he performed wudu

Moses – The building was impressive – beautifully tiled and with intricate, hand painted calligraphy.