Quote:
Originally Posted by papa smurf
i was recently working near a mosque [a converted Methodist church] the parking went from no cars to two abreast in a short period of time problem is the street is a cul-de-sac ,and is populated by old folks bungalow's ,so they are totally penned in during Friday prayers [that's the day i was there]
but the thing that struck me most was it all seemed to be a last minute panic not to be late, and that there where no women in any of the cars, are women not welcome in this House of god i found there lack of attendance puzzling .
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The Friday prayer is seen by most muslims as the most important 'regular' prayer to perform in congregation. Hence why you get a huge amount of people outside mosques on Friday afternoon. Because of the amount of people women will not attend in smaller mosques (as the emphasis is on men attending the prayer in congregation) but many large mosques have separate rooms.
What I dont understand about arguments that have been bought up by the parking issue is that illegally parked cars, be they outside the mosque or on a high street, will get ticketed or clamped. The mosques I regularly go to in South London are all on red routes - which limits parking extremely. Most people park in bays or legally on the road. They are also there for an hour maximum. I have seen cars get clamped and ticketed - but never the same car get ticketed or clamped twice. Generally people learn their lesson and park legally next time.
Yes I agree double parking and obstructions will happen. But there are ways that someone being illegally parked can deal with it. And there are fines in place to prevent it happening.
As for being penned in because cars are obstructing the driveway - a few years back my neighbour decided to park in front of my dropped down kerb as she thought she was entitled to do so. A quick call to the locall police station sorted out the problem in a few minutes.
Also bear in mind that mosques do not want to constantly have complaints regarding parking directed at them as it leads to hostility and tension between muslims and neighbouring non muslims. Quite a few mosques I know have people standing outside ensuring people are parked with consideration to others.