Meet My Religious Neighbor is a monthly open-house series. Each open house allows the public the opportunity to tour a sacred space, learn how religion is practiced in it, and meet the congregation who worships there.

On Friday, Sept. 14, at 1:30 p.m., the first open house of the fall semester will occur at the Shafia Islamic and Cultural Center for their jummah sermon and prayers. Shafia is a relatively new (2014) Somali mosque with Sufi influence. It is located at 1425 University Avenue in Des Moines. Many of its members are refugees, victims of persecution by Al-Shabaab in Somalia. For more information about the mosque, see the entry by Drake student Runal Patel on The Comparison Project website.

Men should enter through the back side (non-University) of the mosque; women, through the front (University). After the prayers have ended women and men together can learn about the community’s distinctive practice of Islam. To respect the customs and rules of the mosque, women should cover their hair and have arms covered to wrists and legs covered to ankles. Men should not wear shorts. Also, men should avoid touching women and vice versa (handshaking included). If you want more information, please contact Tim Knepper at tim.knepper@drake.edu.

Monique Rodriguez, College of Arts and Sciences