A Home for Prayer

Perhaps this should be arts week for my Lion Lamb blog. I have lots of thoughts about art and architecture, movies and books these days. After we went to the AGO in Toronto on Saturday we drove out the Don Valley Parkway to the Aga Khan Museum. You may remember me writing about this new museum of Islamic art, and that Toronto was chosen because of its multi-cultural society.  It proved to be a fascinating experience and I will write about it specifically later this week.

We realized that the Ismaili Prayer Centre (it's not a mosque) was immediately alongside the museum and we wondered if we could visit it as well. We were advised that visitors are supposed to book tours, but encouraged to walk over and ask about going in. The tour guides were very gracious and one of them took the two of us on a walk through which focused, by request, on the prayer hall.

The hall is huge, seating 1500 people. The design of this space, both spare and grand,  is by Charles Correa and it has a special translucent roof to allow light, with a skylight to bring focus to the front. It is actually a double roof to provide insulation from the sounds of the city, including the traffic of the DVP. It works, because we were immediately struck by the silence. The heating system is radiant from the floor, where most participants kneel. Air-conditioning comes from the walls, which are screens with a design spelling "Allah." There are rows of chairs at the back, a concession to those who find kneeling difficult.

We took off our shoes and entered into the holiness of this prayer hall, just the three of us in the soaring space. I use the word "holiness" because as we left we both commented of the holy, prayerful atmosphere of the hall.

I asked about the number of people who come together for prayer. An average of 400 come together for an hour silent meditation at FOUR IN THE MORNING followed by half an hour of prayers. At seven in the evening about 1300 Ismailis arrive for evening prayer. What an impressive statement of devotion.

On our drive back to Belleville we chatted about how our country and our spiritual perceptions have changed. There we were, two life-long Christians, in a Muslim prayer centre, aware of God's presence. We were so glad we went in on a dreary afternoon.

Would you be interested in visiting this prayer centre? Do you carry any reservations about this sort of cross-faith connection or are you grateful this is happening in our society?