The Basics:
The Koran is the holy book, a collection of the teachings of the last prophet sent from God, Mohammad. Islam actually recognizes both Jewish and Christian people as brothers and sisters or “people of the book” meaning that all three came of the same beginning, and worship the same God (Allah in Arabic). In Islam, you have many of the teachings of the Jewish and Christian faiths, however those people had strayed after the time of Christ again, and God’s will needed to be revealed again by Mohammad.
There are of course the Five Pillars of Islam that play a very important role in the daily lives of Muslims in general, and Mauritanians in particular. (Five pillars are: The profession of faith, Prayer, Fast during Ramadan, Charity, and the Pilgrimage).
There are two main branches of faith, Sunni and Shiite. Mauritanians are Sunni, aka Orthodox. The split came from a disagreement over the correct succession of power after the death of the Prophet.
This is probably the quickest explanation EVER of Islam, and I don’t want to diminish the complexity of the religion, but please look for supplementary material online that could give more information on the nuts and bolts of the religion than I can. This is just a very basic overview based on the information we were given in our Cross Culture handbook. Following here are the parts that will help explain how the religion is incorporated into Mauritanian life.
Holidays:
This time is very appropriate to discuss Ramadan as we are just finishing up here. The start of Ramadan is based off of the cycles of the moon, and this year it began around the 1st of September and will be ending here shortly. Actually here in Mauritania, the night that there was a new moon it was overcast, so they started a day late and have to make it up at the end. It is 29-30 days of fasting (depending on the moon cycles) where any person who is past puberty, not traveling, sick, or with child should abstain from all food and drink during the hours of 5am-7pm. This is one of the 5 pillars of Islam, and so is very important. So what does that mean in Mauritania? Well, the schedule changes completely! First, schools do not start until after Ramadan, and many people don’t work either (can you blame them with the crazy heat and no food or drink?). Many people almost become nocturnal as they stay up “breaking fast” until 12am-2am, and then wake up at 4am to eat again before the fast begins again. Walking on the streets at about 2pm, you’ll see very few people out, but come midnight the streets are teaming with people!
The next major holiday will be Tabaski, which is 70 days after Ramadan’s end. It is the festival that celebrates Abraham sacrificing a ram instead of his son at God’s will. For this festival, apparently everyone will slaughter a sheep, and buy new clothes to celebrate. Hopefully I’ll remember to put up another post about this holiday when it comes around!
Daily Life:
Religion is not a taboo subject as it can be in the US. Here, people are very open about their religion, and are very nosy about yours too! There’s always someone who will ask me, are you fasting (because it’s Ramadan), are you Muslim, etc… For them, this is just normal, and the fact that you are religious is very important. As it is an Islamic Republic, just about 100% of Mauritania’s inhabitants profess to be Muslim (I have yet to meet someone who does not). It is important to note however that the government does not restrict non-Mauritanians from their worship. There are still a few churches left in major cities from the French-colonial era that still function.
One of the most obvious points of religion in daily life is the 5 prayers a day (another pillar of Islam). Here in the city, we have tons of mosques all equipped with loudspeakers. At the respective prayer times, someone comes over the loudspeaker to say, Allah Agbar (Allah the Great) and other citations from the Koran. At this time, many men will go to the mosque to pray (especially on Friday – the holy day). Women will generally pray at home, although there is some change with women being allowed in the mosque after menopause. Alternatively you can see people who were walking in the street just stop and pray right there! Now, not everyone prays when the loudspeakers sound, it’s just a guideline. You have a few hours to do your prayer, before the next one. However it is important to note that time is taken out from daily activity to pray, and that the work week is scheduled around Friday. This means that the “work week” is Sunday-Thursday, with weekends on Friday and Saturday. As much of Mauritania’s economy is not in the formal sector you don’t see a huge difference in many jobs, but you will see this schedule in banks and schools.
A note on the positions of prayer that I thought was kinda neat… one of our facilitators pointed out that the different positions of prayer are based in the formation of the letters of God in Arabic “Allah”. So essentially you make God’s name with your body position – just a little side tid-bit.
Religion in Language:
Religion is so important that it is also a huge part of the language here. Whenever someone enters your home, to welcome them you say, Bismillah (literally “in the name of God” but figuratively “welcome” in this case. Bismillah is also said before starting any task such as cooking or cleaning, and traveling. Machallah and Alhamdullillah mean roughly “Thanks be to God” and are a major part of the greatings here. For example, something as simple as saying “Hi, how are you” in the States here you would use at least one if not both of Machallah and Alhamdullillah. Even insults and disciplining children take on a religious tone with sayings such as “may God shorten your life” (which is used ALL the time with misbehaving children, and is not meant literally in the least!), and “may God make you go away”.
Views on other religions:
As mentioned earlier, people recognize Jews and Christians as “people of the book”. Unfortunately, many people do not understand the diversity of the US, and automatically assume that everyone is a Christian. Even so, when someone asks you why you are not Muslim (as the always do, many times because they sincerely want you to join them in the after-life), you can simply say, “you have your religion and I have mine” which is a quote from the Koran. Alternatively, I have said, my family is not Muslim, and they quickly identify with the need to belong in the family and say no more. As far as other and no religion goes… it’s not a real favorable alternative here. We are told it’s probably best to not to let them know. As one facilitator put it, it would make life very difficult here as the Koran forbids relations with those who are not of the book. I only heard that though from that one source… so who knows?
And in closing off the section on religion… a small note on law. The judicial system uses a combination of both Islamic law and French civil law. I don’t have a lot of experience with the law, so I’m not very familiar with this aspect. This is by no means all-inclusive, and if you have more questions, please just ask!
Here is a picture of the mosque in Chinguetti (the oldest standing mosque in Mauritania, and the 7th most holiest place in Islam). Notice the tower on the right side. There are actually loudspeakers mounted for prayer call to be broadcasted over the whole town.
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