I have recently moved to the college dorms (Beirut-Lebanon) and I am now sharing a room with a christian girl who's not lebanese . And as a result i can't concentrate while praying. I have a lot of christian friends but they are lebanese and we have lived together all our life so they know a lot about muslims and we know a lot about their religious practices as well so I used to feel comfortable praying around them.
The girl i am sharing my room with is a foreigner and she never knew any muslims. I know she's staring at me when i am praying and it makes me feel weird. And sometimes, some girls who are also not lebanese come to our room when i am praying and they enter the room talking and when they see me they just freeze!!!!
I've been in the dorms for 3 months now and they still stare at me when i am praying, i just can't seem to concentrate and sometimes i forget if i did the Ruku3 or read the Fatiha and i lose track of how many rak3as i have performed. This problem is not going away...i don't know what to do.
Maybe they're just confused at what you're doing? Try talking to them and telling them what you're doing, that this is how muslims pray, you need to do it 5 times a day, etc. Just explain to them what it is, people always fear what they don't know.
I've been in a similar situation once. I was at one of my non muslim friend's house, and it was time for duhr prayer. I went into an empty room and started praying. My friend walked in on me while I was in sujood. She asked me if I was looking for her cat under the bed, said she'd help me look. When she realized I wasn't going to respond she just left. When I finished praying I explained to her what I was doing, she's like "ooooh, okay".
So I'm sure once your room mate understands what you're doing, she won't be weirded out at all inshallah.
yes as sis crayon mentioned.. try talkin to them.. even we all are used to gettin weird stares from non muslims when we pray i knw its gets on ones nerves wen sumone stares and yes loosing of concentration is another problem.. so the best options for uwud be t sit and talkto them abt ur religion... atleast about namaz in simple words so that they understand !
Please Don't Forget the Plight of Muslims in your Dua's "And Seek (Allah's) help
with Sabr (patience) and Salat (prayers): it is indeed hard, except to those who
are humble" (Qur'an Al-Baqara 2:45)
I agree with the previous posters.
Try to explain how you pray and why.
If your roommate is Christian and has had not contact with Muslims before, she will almost certainly find your prayers very alien. She may feel just as uncomfortable as you do.
Alternatively, would it be possible to pray when your roommate isn't around, or to politely ask her to give you 10 minutes in private?
I am sure that as you get to know each other, you will both be fine.
I hope all will go well.
Peace glo
Here I stand.
I can do no other.
May God help me.
Amen.
Come, let us worship and bow down •
and kneel before the Lord our Maker
[Psalm 95]
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