Mohamad Rachid, the imam at the Richmond Jamia Mosque, is hoping visitors this weekend will walk away with a new understanding of Islam. ( Mark Patrick - photo )

By Matthew Hoekstra
Richmond Review

If there’s one thing Mohamad Rachid hopes people will leave his mosque with, it’s a new understanding of Islam—and its believers.

“Muslims are normal human beings. They go about their lives, they work, they have families, they’re just like everybody else with their daily issues,” said Rachid during a tour of the Richmond Jamia Mosque Tuesday. “We look at religion as a way of life, which means we’re always thinking of God, so we try to live our life in a very, very good manner.”

Rachid is the mosque’s imam, the community’s religious leader who is preparing for visitors this weekend in the city’s second annual Doors Open event. The mosque is one of 40 buildings in Richmond participating in the event. From places of worship to artist studios to museums to national historic sites, participating venues will open their doors to all visitors for free.

The 25-year-old mosque is situated only metres away from Highway 99, off Blundell Road. Its pale-yellow exterior is most recognizable for a roof-top dome adorned with a crescent moon—a symbol of Islam so aligned that when peered through, it leads the eyes to Mecca, the religion’s spiritual focal point.

Inside, the mosque has two modest prayer rooms, an office, a small kitchen and a green-walled gymnasium, used as an overflow area for prayers and for students at the Islamic school next door.

Rachid calls this place a community centre for the Muslim community, a place that was never intended to be flashy.

“We want it to be this way, because it’s a place of worship. You want to concentrate with God,” said Rachid, a native of Syria who’s served as the local imam for over two years. “That’s why it’s simple.”

Islam is the second-largest religion in the world, after Christianity, and the Richmond mosque is the largest in B.C.—attracting over 1,000 people for Friday prayers.

Followers of Islam believe that God revealed the Koran to the prophet Mohammed. Believers observe the five pillars of Islam and Islamic law, known as sharia, which sets out rules for daily life.

Richmond’s mosque is open daily for prayers, which believers perform five times per day. Friday prayers—the main event of the week, open to everyone—begin with a sermon from the imam at 1:30 p.m. Men pray downstairs, women in a room upstairs. The separation is intended to minimize distractions while standing shoulder to shoulder during prayer.

Shoes must be removed before entering the prayer halls, ensuring the carpets that worshippers press their faces into remain clean. Before entering the prayer hall, there is an area for worshippers to wash their faces, hands and feet—a practice that is symbolic of washing away sins.

Rachid, who also teaches university courses on Islam to mostly curious non-Muslims, said most misconceptions regarding Islam centre around the treatment of women and jihad.

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Tags: Doors Open, Islam, Mohamad Rachid, Muslims, Richmond British Columbia, Richmond Jamia Mosque

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