Islam

As of last year, I have become increasingly interested in Islam. Something about it being the scapegoat of recent events has helped me gravitate towards trying to figure the religion out, beginning with its roots. That is why I super excited about going to the London Central Mosque with my Religion and Violence class. I had been to a mosque before in my hometown of Detroit, Michigan, but I figured this would be a different type of experience.
When I attended the Mosque here in London, I first noticed that compared to the Mosque in Detroit, it was much larger. This mosque had two floors and lots of offices that surrounded a quad-type area. Inside there was a bookstore, an eatery, and also a library, much more than what the Detroit mosque had! The prayer room was also much different than it was back at home. It was much smaller and was not as decorated. The women also had to sit on a separate floor at the London mosque, rather than just in the back of the room.
Also, when I went with my class I was able to have a tour guide, which was real nice. He was able to answer all of my questions that I had about Islam and the mosque. Although when I went at home I was able to just participate and pretend as if I knew what was going on, I was not able to know why people were doing specific things. Thus having a tour guide really helped me to understand the people who attended the mosque and some of the fundamentals of Islam itself.

The fact that the London mosque allows these types of tours to take place shows that they really want Islam to be looked at in a different light. They open up their doors and their sacred place of worship so that people can learn about Islam, and see that it really isn't violent. So many people in this world have such a negative perception of Islam as a whole just because of the terrorist attacks that have taken place all over the world, so by allowing the public in to ask any question they like, and seeing what happens in these huge places of worship, they enlighten the public and teach them about what is really happening in their own backyards.

As for the differences between each visit I have made, I think it's just a matter of architecture and of culture. Considering how important the Islamic culture is in London, the building that the Muslims worship in is bigger and has more floors so that it can accommodate more people.