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Currently reading this book by Dr. Jeffrey Lang.

When living in a non-Muslim country, a Muslim is often faced with the problem of performing prayers once the time comes. In the US it is very rare to see prayer rooms in public facilities, so Muslims are faced with finding the time and place right on the spot or to make up/combine later.

During my time in the US, I’ve seen and/or experience a little bit of everything.

Summers are a period of holiday for most of the world. A time where some families go abroad for vacation, and apparently the US was a popular destination for Middle Easteners. Last Summer 2011 was not an ordinary one for me. In one of the more popular destination area in the West Coast, Muslims were seen everywhere. It seemed that for every 50m you walk, you see Muslims with hijab or niqab. I had never seen so many Muslims out and about in a public setting in the US.

And fittingly it was the first time I saw someone pray in the open in a shopping center. I was surprised to see a sister praying behind a directory board. It was not in some secluded, quiet corner, but just behind a mall directory. A few days later I saw a whole family praying in the parking lot. The men prayed in a rather large space between cars, the women a little further back in the corner. I did greet them and exchanged small talk. They said they were from Saudi and it was nothing peculiar for them. It was time to pray and they did it. Subhanallah

From the conversations from Muslims I’ve met, I gathered there are a lot of ways Muslims fulfill their obligation while they are on the run. Some pray in the car sitting down. Some use department stores’ fitting rooms. Some use the ruling permitting combining prayers. But today I was very lucky to have found a solution.

Today I was out running some last minute shopping in a local mall. I remembered some time ago that a new salon kind of store had just opened and some Muslim sister was handing out flyers. Today I passed by the store and a sister in hijab was on duty. Considering Asr had just came, I braved myself to greet her and ask whether she had space to pray. Sure enough she offered me a prayer mat and a space in the back to pray. A short conversation ensued about conversion, being Muslim in the West, and some small religion talk. She seemed so happy to meet a fellow Muslim.

I wish I have the bravery to perform prayers regardless of location, and I know many Muslims do so. When it’s time, they just find a space and do it. InshaAllah it will come.