Dear Neighbor Chronicles: Sound the Alarm

Dear Neighbor,

If you're going to have such a high-tech alarm system installed in your car that it sounds for 20 minutes when someone so much as sneezes near it and changes tone every 5 seconds, and if you insist on arming it every night even though your car is parked in a patrolled lot, please have the courtesy to turn it off when it sounds at 3 in the morning. Some of us can't sleep through that kind of din.

- Your Neighbor

I hope it is something important!

The Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) taught us that once the Khatib (Imam giving the Friday sermon) begins his Khutba (sermon), one is not allowed to distract himself or herself in any action or talk. It is such an important rule that even asking someone to be silent during a Khutba puts one at the risk of actually losing the reward of the Jum'aa (Friday) prayer. Of course, this does not stop some Muslims from engaging in greeting everyone they pass by, as they enter the Mosque late while the Khutba is going on.

Every once in while, while I am giving a Khutba, someone's cell phone starts ringing. Most people rush to silence it. I can see the guilt and embarrassment on their faces. However, I also witness the rare cases of those who reach to the phone and answer it. I vividly remember the time a middle-aged man sitting in the 2nd or 3rd row answered his cell phone and angrily and discretely (at least he thought he was discrete) whispered to the caller (who I guess was not Muslim): "I hope it is something important. I am in the middle of a sermon and the angry preacher is looking at me now!"

I have to admit, while this was a "what's up with that" moment, I struggled hard to keep myself from laughing in the middle of the Khutba.

Shoulder to shoulder, foot to foot

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) advised that when we pray in congregation that we close the gap between us and the people next to us, on each side, by ensuring that we stand shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot. The apparent wisdom is that this bond will encourage unity and brotherhood/sisterhood.

Some people misunderstand this great tradition to the point where they become obsessed with the foot to foot part. Who among us did not have to stand next to such a person who turns the prayer into a mission for his foot to chase yours. After every step in the prayer, he makes sure that his foot forcefully presses on your foot, and if you dare to move your own feet closer to escape the pressure, his foot will follow yours to remind you that there is no escape from that destined bond. I wonder how could he keep his balance with his legs so far apart? It must take a lot practice.

What's up with that?