Religion in Afghanistan

1. Religion in Afghanistan By Lyke Esselink

2. Praying • Mosque • Salaat • Wudhu

4. The religion in Afghanistan is Islam. People who believe in the Islam are called Muslims. A mosque is the place Muslims go to worship. There are no statues or paintings in the main hall of the mosque because Muslims believe it to be distracting, and prayer time is to focus on Allah.

5. Muslims pray 5 times a day, once before sunrise, once at midday, just after the sun reaches it’s highest point, once in the late part of the afternoon, once just after sunset and once between sunset and midnight. These daily prayers are called the Salaat. Before performing Salaat, Muslims must wash themselves. This ritual is called Wudhu. The Wudhu is performed in a particular order. The Muslims must clean each part of their body three times. First, they mush wash their hands, one at a time. Second, they clean their mouth, nose and face. After this they clean their arms, then they run their wet hands through their hair. This is only done once. Finally, they clean their ears and feet. A Wudhu is only done once per day. You can do it multiple times but that’s not necessary as they are valid for 1 day.

6. Religion affects the daily lives of the people in Afghanistan on a very large scale. They have to plan their days around the Salaat and praying five times a day is a lot.

7. sources • http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/practices/Salaat.shtml • http://www.muslimconverts.com/prayer/how-to-perform-wudhu.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque • http://www.help-for-the-convert.net/salaat.htm • http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mosque • http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/galleries/salah/

8. The end • Any questions?