English sermons, Quran on iPads at Hyderabad mosque a big draw

Hyderabad, June 13: In the city of Nizams that has metamorphosed into a bustling metropolis, this mosque was possibly in the making. Tucked away in a quiet corner of Banjara Hills, a mosque is playing the part of the Pied Piper for the English-speaking believers in the city, offering them an air-conditioned hall to offer namaz and delivering sermons in English even as the devout read the Quran from Islamic applications on their iPads.

The plush interiors of the centrally air conditioned mosque located on Road No. 8 Banjara Hills and with prayer carpets to sink one's feet in, the mosque is a hit with the affluent. Worshippers vouch for the mosque's comfortable ambience which they say is conducive to religious learning. They add that unlike the traditional mullah, the mosque offers lectures and sermons on topical subjects by professionals working with various firms who have a practical approach to religion. Further, a large number of foreign students throng the mosque during Ramzan as lectures are given in English. What clicks with the smart phone-wielding believers here is the contemporary tone of sermons and the practical approach to Islam.

Worshippers at the mosque said that understanding the Friday qutbah at other mosques across the city has become increasingly difficult as is delivered in chaste Urdu. Syed Zaheeruddin, a 28-year-old assistant manager in an MNC in Hi-Tec City said, "Everything the young Muslim does is in English. We were educated in school with English as the medium of instruction. We discharge our professional duties in English. And despite Urdu being our mother tongue, we speak to our children in English at home too. So, everything taught here sinks effortlessly."

The mosque witnesses around 400 worshippers every Friday out of which around 100 are women. Insiya Abdul Raheem, a 23-year-old psychology graduate said, "I am more conditioned to listening to English and understand it better than I understand Urdu. And since I have a thirst for understanding religion, it makes sense that I come to this mosque."

Officials say it was important they reinvented and thus started at the very first step of religious instruction - communication. They added that for Muslims to be able to discharge religious duties, it was important that they understood them first. Mirza Yawar Baig, an IIM-A graduate of 1985 batch and a management consultant serving as both as imam and khateeb of the mosque, said, "The principle of communication is the transmission of ideas and knowledge. English has become the language of the world and of education of the youth. Ironic as it may seem, it made perfect sense to disseminate knowledge of their own faith in the English language. It is important that I speak in a language that people understand since many understand English better than they understand their own mother tongue. The qutbah aims to help Muslims to understand their lives and current events in the context of the Quran, sunnah (teachings of the Prophet) and Islamic history. The purpose of the qutbah is defeated if people don't understand it."