There is a reference in the Quran about the two qiblahs. The gist of the story was the historical move of the qiblah, direction of prayer, from al-Quds, Jerusalem, to the Kaabah in Makkah. They even built a mosque that has the name Dhul-qiblatayn, the "two directions of prayer" mosque. Anyway, this comes to mind as I sit between two Iranian women on my right (who talk a lot to complain about some of the shenanigans I will describe below), and an Arab woman on my left. When things get tough, I just go to English. Like these women who talk to all and sundry in Farsi, chances are just as good for any one language as for any other in this context.
Most mornings until now, my roommate and I would awaken at 3:00 a.m. to get to the mosque for the prayer before the morning prayer tahajuud. Our first morning we had our encounter with the guardians of the "this sacred space is too sacred for you women, so give it up to the men." We ended in the basement, because my roommate doesn't like conflict, even with a good cause. We had a nice groove going there, but she made a rift in our united efforts. What I mean is, the other women by sign language agreed with me to keep our space. At first they were going to lift up their prayer rugs when shifted by the security guards, but then I gave them the eye and also told the guard in Arabic, "We're a group (of ladies) here." Why should we move?
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