Comments on: Which Way is Mecca? A Visit to the Chebi Mosque in Cordoba

By: jd09

jd09 — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 18:22:48 +0000

Would Mohammedyussif have asked you to remove your shoes if you hadn’t done so?

By: TG

TG — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 17:47:18 +0000

Just a note…

There’s a PI by the name of Mecca in Teen SL.

So Mecca really is to the east.

By: dmx prime

dmx prime — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 07:46:57 +0000

Heh. Thats kinda neat. I laffoed at the end with the insane-o SL billboard mess contrast against the pretty mosques.

Any Jewish stuff about. I’d love to check out a jewish temple? I’m assuming theres christian stuff around. Be really neato to get the Jewish and Muslim communitys working together in SL. Always silly unfair tensions in RL, but it dont have to be like that in the metaverse.

Congrats guys. This is how you show the world what islams *really* about, rather than the nasty tripe fed to people on tv.

By: Kasia Szydlowska

Kasia Szydlowska — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 14:19:07 +0000

Women should cover themselves before entering mosques as a sign of modesty and respect. Granted, I haven’t seen much of those qualities in SL, but then we’re not talking burkhas here. Why would I ever want to “slip into a male av”? It would be easier and more appropriate for me to don a headscarf than go in as a man with a female name – that’s just silly.

I think offering to wear a headscarf or remove shoes in SL makes a difference. It’s also educational, since these are expected at RL mosques. If someone visits a mosque in SL, then they will know what to do should they ever visit a mosque in RL.

Maybe they should restrict the mosque to group members and hold occasional open houses. That might keep the amorous furries out.

By: Urizenus

Urizenus — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 10:09:33 +0000

It’s interesting that things like not wearing shoes translates directly from RL to VR. No one asked me to remove my virtual shoes, I just knew it should be done, and I also knew it would be asinine to say they aren’t really shoes. If its all about symbolism then it doesn’t seem to matter much of the shoes are leather or pixels.

By: Julaybib

Julaybib — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 03:31:53 +0000

You can access a lot of the religious sims (or sims with religious representations) using SLURLs at Second Faith:

http://www.bayyinat.org.uk/secondlife.htm

By the way, the mosque is slightly beaten up at the moment due to technical problems. In its complete state, the atmosphere is incredible. And that’s what visitors tell me, not just my own bias view!

Wearing headscarfs and removing shoes in a mosque is a matter of courtesy, of course. Like most folks respect sim rules elsewhere, so Muslim ones too, yeah? Thanks.

By: David Cartier

David Cartier — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 01:41:54 +0000

Are they really insisting that women wear headscarves? When all you have to do is slip into a male av, I can’t see it makes much difference. What will they do if someone wearing a hog avatar tries to enter? I suppose they make people take off their shoes, and wash their feet, too.
They are going to have to restrict the mosque to group members whenever it isn’t being attended or face a whole lot of irritations. The people who’ve built churches and temples in SL have learned not to expect any sort of respect or even acceptance from visitors. You are lucky just to log in and not find furries screwing on the altar.

By: Kasia Szydlowska

Kasia Szydlowska — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:29:19 +0000

The mosque sounds really interesting. I’d love to visit, but having been to RL mosques I know I would have to cover my hair, and I can’t find headscarves anywhere in SL. Mohammedyussif should have a freebie box of modest clothing available for visitors (kind of like the “wraps” they have at some RL mosques).

By: Prokofy Neva

Prokofy Neva — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 13:46:42 +0000

That’s quite something to see how they arranged to have the light fall just so through the arches.

Yes, it’s amazing how people create oases of beauty admidst the ugliness of Second Life, and they are all the more beautiful for it. I think these little mainland triumphs are blessed.

I wonder what the operators of this mosque think about infidels coming in and using the poses. They’d probably be unable to stop that sort of experimentation, which might be viewed as sacrilegious, unless they close the land to a group.

A few weeks ago, I attended this presentation of Catherine Omega’s new job, which is a kind of sherpa firm that helps non-profits in SL and with other social software. There was an actual debate about what were the correct poses to use for prayer in the mosques. Apparently one Muslim group has stipulated one set of poses, and another group has conflicted somehow, and is stipulating some other poses. The facts need to be researched on this. The woman from the sherpa firm was asked what she thought about this, and she sort of gulped and said she thought it was a user issue, and that the creators and animators could only meet the customers’ demands.