Quiet reverence mixes with bustle at mosque
Fatima Loya, 20, spent her Saturday at the Maryam Islamic Center in Sugar Land, planning events for the mosque’s teenagers to observe Islam’s holy month, Ramadan.
Around 5 p.m. she led a community service event, packing meals for the needy at folding tables on a converted baseball field next to the mosque in the 95-degree heat. None of the volunteers ate or drank anything themselves.
Ramadan, which began at sundown June 6, is Islam’s month of spirituality and selfreflection, when Muslims strengthen their relationship with God through fasting and refraining from drinking anything from sunup to sundown each day. The time is also spent in prayer and performing charity work, said Tauqer Shah, the mosque’s imam, or spiritual leader.
Ramadan is a spiritual boot camp.
But while days are spent in self-restraint and service, the nights are spent celebrating. That’s when Maryam center comes alive.
Over a thousand people head to the center every day during Ramadan for evening prayers — one at 8:30 p.m. and another at 10 p.m. A date, then an egg roll
They’re a diverse group, including Houston natives and immigrants from countries as varied as Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Some are clad in traditional Indian or Arab dress; others wear blue jeans.
They break their fast with the traditional food of one date per person as the sun sets at 8:30 p.m. The mosque caters food on Friday, Islam’s sabbath, and Saturday nights. On this night, June 25, it’s Chinese and Indian; so after finishing the date, each participant indulges in an egg roll.
Visitors to the center this night would never guess its humble beginnings. Just over 10 years ago, about a dozen New Territory residents prayed in a trailer on a small
piece of property they bought near where the center would be built.
Since then, the mosque at 504 Sartartia Road has grown to become the largest in the Sugar Land area. Its members have acquired more land and built a permanent facility that can fit the thousand that show up for prayers every night during Ramadan.
The center’s size — the group of regular attendees number in the hundreds — isn’t for everyone. Some prefer a smaller worship community, but it was the size of the Maryam center’s congregation that attracted Loya.
On this Saturday, shoes, which cannot be worn inside, litter the separate entrances for men and women to the mosque’s main rooms, which are thickly carpeted in red and beige. The second-floor rooms, normally used for weekly youth events, become overflow prayer space, as the first floor has filled by the start of the prayers at 10 p.m. ‘Spiritual high’
At that prayer gathering, worshippers hear the imam read a passage of the Quran in Arabic in a deep, melodious voice. During Ramadan, the imam reads the entire Quran, little by little, over the 30 days.
These recitations are Shah’s favorite part of Ramadan. He says he practices all day for his 10 p.m. reading.
Faizan Atiq, a volunteer at Maryam center, was there to hear the reading.
“You’re on a spiritual high,” he said.
Atiq helps out with the youths and attends the night’s prayers in jeans and one of the T-shirts he wore when volunteering at one of the center’s events. It reads: “Open Mind. Open Heart. Open Arms.”
The evening’s reading will last until nearly midnight, with people coming and going as they wish. The atmosphere inside the mosque, though reverent, is surprisingly casual.
Children too young to understand the prayer run through the women’s section. Murmurs of, “There isn’t space here, head upstairs,” drift through the crowd.
Outside, the spirit of service continues.
A 17-year-old student at Katy ISD’s Seven Lakes High School is running a bone-marrow drive this night. Loya stops to swab her own cheek at the booth to add her DNA to the register. The teen’s family drives from Katy all the way to Maryam center because of its weekly youth activities and the imam’s ability to relate to young people — Shah is only 30 and a Houston native.
Like many other attendees, the center’s associate director and co-founder, Anwer Wadiwala, has known the imam since Shah was in elementary school.
Another member conducts a bake sale to raise funds to care for his handicapped son.
There are dresses for sale, in preparation for Eid, a celebration at the end of Ramadan that can last up to three days. Holiday memories
As the night wears on, participants share childhood stories of Ramadan in Pakistan, where Loya’s family used to swap homemade dishes with her neighbors, and Dubai, where Atiq’s school days were shortened to accommodate nights spent in prayer with family and friends.
Wadiwala remembers sneaking sips of water when he was 10 years old and starting to fast for the first time.
His fondest memories of the month are interfaith events held at the center and special meals at home with his wife and two sons.
Atiq’s best memory is the first time his daughter, now 9, fasted.
June 25 was the beginning of Ramadan’s final 10 days, during which Muslims believe the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammed.
People have spent the night at the center throughout the month — including a teen lock-in that Loya organized for the girls — but during the final 10 days some members will choose to stay at the mosque without any contact with the outside world.
For Eid, Atiq will head to his childhood home in Dubai to celebrate with family.
Loya will be at the center for morning prayers, and then head to brunch at a family’s house, where she’ll stay eating and celebrating until late that night.
After Ramadan is over, the next task will be to maintain the habits of prayer, service and restraint that he practiced during Ramadan, Atiq said.
Every year, he added, it gets a little easier.