Friday prayers

This morning I went downtown to pay a couple of bills. I went in the underground metro station/mall/bill paying place. It was almost time for the Friday call to prayer. This is the biggest one of the week. In the mosques the imam "preaches" or reads a sermon like thing and then everyone does their prayers. Because the mosque that is located in the metro is quite small on Fridays they put rugs down all over the metro floor for men to use. They broadcast the sermon over the loudspeaker. I had my camera with me so I took a few pictures.


The rugs being put down for the men to kneel on.


Some men listening to the sermon.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting I took this video while trying to act like I was just holding the camera. You can see men kneeling and listening as well as others taking their shoes off to walk on the carpets. Shoes have to be off when you pray. I tried to take another picture, but right when I did a security guard jumped in the way. He told me it was yasak/forbidden to take pictures in the metro at any time. I knew this already but tried to act surprised when he told me. I showed him the picture I just took of him and deleted it which made him happy. Little did he know that I had already taken these others! I wanted to get some video of the actual prayers happening, but I decided not to push my luck. I figured if I got caught again they might take my camera away, and I can't handle life here without my camera!