Today we began our morning at 3:45 am to attend IMAN’s Saturday dawn prayer service, Fajr.
When we arrived at IMAN central, we were greeted by an elder of the community and got to witness him perform a call to prayer in the streets of south side Chicago. While the sun began to rise, we sat in ritualistic prayer with IMAN community members, which was then followed by a cypher. In the cypher, we formed a large circle and one by one offered a prayer to Allah. We each shared our name and one thing we would like group to pray for us. For our group, this moment was incredibly powerful and particularly special. After the cypher, many of the immersion participants stated how attending Fajr helped them feel relaxed and comforted. Over the past few days, we have learned a lot of new things about one another and have grown closer in our mission. Additionally, for many of us, this was our first close experience with the Muslim culture and faith. It is incredible to witness IMAN’s values being reflected in the service and care they offer to their community. After the prayer and cypher, we joined the other attendees over a breakfast meal. This was a great time to meet others in the IMAN community and converse about their experiences of living in Chicago and being part of IMAN.
We ended the day with dinner at Giordano’s and enjoyed deep dish pizza. This was many of the group’s first time trying the famous Chicago dish. We learned about the history of deep-dish pizza during the presentation night prior to the immersion. We had many laughs, and it was a great time enjoying the company of the group after a long day. — Mackenzie Thomas-Graves and Betelhem Kefle
