Friday Prayers at Orchard

During my recent Singapore overnight stop, I had the chance to visit one of the mosque there for Friday prayers. It was only a 10 minute walk from the hotel we were staying and the timing was just right as we were going towards a lunch recess.

The mosque, called Masjid Al-Falah stood right behind a Holiday Inn hotel in the middle of Orchard Road, the main shopping district in Singapore. It was at a simple building, only marked with some simple letterings. It was already crowded when we arrived, and we got a spot on the upper floors where the Muslimah usually attend.

The toilets and the absolution area was clearly marked and conveniently placed. And this being Singapore, they were spotless.

Impressive. The whole setup was great. The sermon was in Malay and the subject matters were straight to the point and easy to digest. None of the political connotations we were preached to in the mosques in KL. Towards the end of his sermon, the khatib then switched seamlessly into fluent English in summarising his talk.

We could do with some of that back home as the mosque I went to in Gombak had a large Yemeni and Somalian community attending.

Pre-Puasa Treat

Although I arranged to be off for the first couple of days of Puasa, I still decided to do the morning rounds and sort out the Day Care patients. It ended up being a light round, with plenty of time to chill.

And with it, I took the time to have some roti canal for breakfast. Savouring every moment of it.

A quick stop at d7I then spent some time at another office in town doing some paperwork before joining Anita and Irfan in Gombak, in time for the Friday Prayers. After a quick lunch, we went across to fetch Idlan up from school. He had a frisbee session after class today, stopping at McDonald’s on the way home.

Quick a nice way before the start of Ramadan. Not to mention an early dinner with Anita at the tom yam stall. Dynamite! Happy Ramadan everybody!

Agonising Wait

After we were done with the Friday prayers, the area around Bangsar was a nightmare. Anita parked at Bangsar Village II and it took us almost half an hour to get the car out of the car park.

Good thing that I rarely do the prayers there. I was sure the fact that Selangor had a public holiday contributed to the jam. I can't imagine how it would be like in the center of KL ....

Today's Prayers

Normally I would finish my Friday morning clinic at around 1, and ended having to rush to the mosque. I prefer to walk since the parking was atrocious and driving in and out of the parking lot was a nightmare. Sometimes, I was lucky to get a lift from colleagues who were on the way back.

Last week, the walk was tinged with haze, and by the time I reached the hospital for lunch and afternoon rounds, my eyes were red.

Today I was lucky since my clinic finished just after noon, and I was able to get my stuff into the car, changed into a sandal and started walking. I reached the mosque - located just under a kilometer away - after about 15 minutes, and went for a quick lunch at the stalls there.

It was a Ramly burger this week, with some really nice juice. The haze was also not too bad and the weather was overcast. A nice afternoon for a walk.

The ramp going up to the ladies' section. It's opened to males today as it was Friday.The main hallBut the reason for the entry was not about the walk, but for the renovation that had been taking place at my local mosque in the last year. Before Ramadan, about half of the section was closed and most of the Jemaah had to pray under a shed in the middle of the sun. That was trying!

If I was early, I tend to get a space inside the main hall, airconditioned and sleep-inducing. Now, the renovations were almost complete, and the outer halls are now very confortable to stay at. And the ladies section had a ramp going upstairs for the disabled. Since I was early, it would be in the main hall this week .....

Friday Prayers

It was often that I get to bring my body kit for Friday Prayers. Labour Day this year fell on a Friday, and both of them were dressed up after breakfast waiting for me to pick them up after the ward round. Anita became the driver.

Good thing that the mosque in Bangsar was air-conditioned and the weather was superb. We came early and got a nice place and Irfan couldn't stop asking question even when the Khatib was reciting the Khutbah. He was so excited.

Then we went straight for lunch right across at Bangsar Village. A day we'll spent until I got a call to go to the hospital to sort a case out.