Ah, Friday morning in the Compound in Egypt. Usually I hide inside on this day, until about 2 pm.
Friday mornings are the Islamic worship day. Since the country is about 92% muslim (me and my husband are in the Christian minority), things grind to a halt while everyone goes to the Mosque. Business owners wouldn't ask workers to miss worship, so it is impossible to find anything open in the market etc.
All Mosques are equipped with a huge outdoor speaker system. The Imams consider it a public service to broadcast their sermon on full blast, because there is not enough room inside for everyone, and half the congregation ends up standing in the street or in the parks to worship (so even inside my flat I can hear the sermon from the speakers).
Missing Mosque on Friday here is akin to missing Church in a small town in the Bible Belt states on Sunday. If you don't go, everyone will know, and you and your family will be subject to inquiries all week long from well meaning friends who want to see if 'everything is ok' in your household.
I wanted to get some photos because there were literally 1000+ people in the street today outside the Mosque. Of course this would be problematic (rude) to stand around taking photos, so I did my best from inside the car.
Todays sermon (the part I heard) had the following subjects:
1) The children in the compound should be forbidden by parents from riding their 4-wheelers in a dangerous and disrespectful manner because it is unsafe and a nusiance.
2) The Sports Club should open the pool for women only for more hours weekly because 3 times is not enough and its hot outside, and the Muslimias should have an equal access.
3) A boycott should be undertaken for the shop selling sattelite descramblers that enable porn (for obvious reasons).
4) It is not enough to just show up at mosque on Friday... 5 prayers daily are required from everyone.
Look closely at the pictures, the streets are lined with hundreds of people.
Also, pay attention to the car's rearview mirror - you can see even more people...
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