Muhhamad Ali Mosque

One of the last things that we did in Egypt is go to the Muhhammid Ali Mosque. As you can see it is huge. I thought that it was really pretty. We all had to take off our shoes when we went inside. This is because when Muslims pray they touch their forheads to the ground. So, they don't want people walking around with dirty shoes on. We sat in there while our tour guide Emad taught us a little bit about the islamic religion and how they pray. It was really interesting. They say recited prayers. When they bend down and their forheads are on the ground this time is when they themselves get to say whatever they want to Allah. This is where they get to say their own personal prayer. This is something that i never knew. Just a little more about the Islamic religion that i thought you might like to know. Muslims have 5 what they call pillars or duties that they believe in. The pillars are: they beleive that there is only one god Allah and Muhhamad is his Prophet, during the islamic month of Ramadan they fast every day all day from sunrise to sunset, praying 5 times a day, giving alms to the poor, and making a pilgrimage once in their lives to Mecca.





Since i have been in Jerusalem i have wanted to get pictures of the people that live here. When i waas in the mosque was the first time that they wanted to take pictures of us. when we were sitting on the ground listening to our explaination of their religion there was a group on Muslim adults that were taking pictures of all of us while we sat on the ground. Then afterwards i was walking around looking at things and the 3 girls in the picture walked up to me and started talking to me so i was asking them their names and how old they were and they then they asked me if i wanted a picture. They wanted to know if i wanted a picture with them. So i took one of us. I thought that they were so cute. (not the best picture of me though :)) So anyways after i stood up from taking the picture this group of Muslim boys surrounded me and then i noticed that there friends were taking pictures of them with me. I thought it was so funny. I just stood there and smiled.


Here is a picture of what the inside of the Mosque looked like. I thought it was really pretty. During there 5 daily prayers they would lining this building praying. As you can see there is no furniture in the mosque that is because with they way that they worship they don't need furniture.







After we went to the Mosque we went to the Christian section of Egypt which isn't that big. Remember there are only about 10% of Christians in Egypt. We couldn't take any pictures becasue they were not allowed. It was really neat thought to see the Christian aspects of Egypt. We went to the church that was built over the cave that they beleive that Joseph and Mary fled to with the baby Jesus when Herod gave the order to have all the male babies killed.