Taraweeh @ Lakemba Mosque - The Good Ole Days

Taraweeh @ Lakemba Mosque - The Good Ole Days

One of my most vivid and memorable experiences growing up as Muslim child in Sydney, Australia was performing the daily Taraweeh Prayers at Lakemba Mosque. Without fail, my father and uncle would take the young taraweeh-ing sisters and cousins to perform Taraweeh prayers in congregation with other mosque-goers. I obviously prayed at the women's section where during those time when I was a child-teenager, the prayer area was not so full, there was room to move around and talk to many mosque-goers, the atmosphere was spiritually vibrant, and the long-standing prayers were spiritually awakening.

Lakemba Mosque was the place to be every year and the older I became and became unintentionally separated due to other roles and responsibilities, the stronger the desire to re-experience the spiritual awakenings and reconnection becomes.

Every year I do wonder about my own children as I have not been able to share that very experience with them, and the desire to have them experience what I did when I was younger remains strong. Whether they will associate the same meaning, symbols, understandings of congregation prayers during Taraweeh is yet to be known...but one thing I do thank is my father's strong connection to the mosque becauase little did he know that his love for praying at the mosque which he shared with his children, would eventually become one of his children's fondest memories.

- Hanan