Jury Service and Prayer

I am on jury service this fortnight, so have been doing a lot of reading and some clearing of e-mails and work e-mails.  One of the things that always makes me anxious when I am in a new place is where there will be place to make ablution or somewhere to pray. I called the court up ahead of time and left a message to ask this very question.  Thye called back to confirm that they id and the jury pack I was given also confirmed that there was a quiet room I could use.

I still have to work out where I can make wudhu (maybe see if I can use the disabled toilets), but I have been making ablution in the morning before getting to the Court and then avoiding eating and drinking so I don’t need to go to the toilet (which would mean I have to make ablutions again).

The prayer room is small but I found a pile of prayer mats on a little table an someone had drawn the arrow for qibla (direction of prayer) on the wall with scrawled directions to look for the arrow on the ceiling 😊

It was much like any little prayer room I have come across in any number of public spaces or work places.  However the messy little pile of prayer mats made me think of all of the brothers and sisters that seek these spaces out, missing their lunchtimes sometimes in the process.  In a room full of about 120 jurors waiting to be called, there must have been about 15-20 Muslims, I didn’t see anyone else leave to pray.  One of the security staff was Muslims and showed me where the room was (may Allah SWT bless him and accept his duas insh'Allah).  It seems to me that most Muslims don’t pray, so to see the little room, with the messy mats is heartening and makes me feel connected and part of something good alhamdulillah, a kinship with those of my brothers and sisters that do pray.

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