We have been residing in the Al Taawun area of Sharjah for the past ten months. Ever since we moved here, my father has been praying in a makeshift mosque which is located on the road opposite our building.
The mosque is build inside a portable cabin, as seen in the pictures and is extremely small. Much too small to accommodate the growing number of worshippers in the area.
Due to its size, it can fit only 30-50 people and there are no Friday prayers held in this mosque. The facility also lacks a women’s prayer hall as well as washrooms and ablution areas. The area is in an urgent need of a proper, larger mosque that can cater to hundreds of worshippers at once as this is a growing residential area.
The authorities should construct a permanent mosque in the area and pave the roads so that pedestrians can walk through conveniently.
In addition to this, I would like to share the poor condition of a mosque located on the highway, in Al Aqqah area in Furjairah. The ablution area and the passage leading towards the washrooms were extremely filthy and the floor was smeared with excessive amounts of sand and dirt. I also noticed that there were numerous shoe marks and sand-filled prints on the carpet where worshippers pray.
I request the authorities to kindly take immediate steps to clean up this mosque so that it becomes fit for use by worshippers. Also, since the mosque is surrounded by sand, it is necessary that this mosque is cleaned on a daily basis. I request the authorities to kindly take the plight of the worshippers into serious consideration.
The reader is based in Sharjah
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