ON a weekend, I went to the Faisal Mosque, Islamabad, along with my family, hoping to find it neat and clean with people offering prayers, as well as enjoying the scenery and construction of the mosque.

To my utter disappointment, what I saw has been troubling me.

Once you enter Faisal Masjid, you are greeted with a lot of garbage and trash in the surrounding lawns. Even inside you find wrappers, papers and rags on the floor.

What happened to the belief that ‘cleanliness is half the faith’? I personally believe management is not the only one to be blamed.

The public should also ensure that they keep the sanctity of the mosque in mind.

I felt ashamed when I saw one of the foreigners picking things up from the floor and disposing them of in dustbins (which are the only clean items visible in the surrounding). I also saw one odd member of the cleaning staff cleaning the floor at a snail’s pace.

The second observation is regarding the visitors. Men were seen in shorts. Women were wearing jeans with uncovered heads. When it was time for the Asar prayers, there was only one row of people. In the enclosure for women, only a few were seen offering prayers.

Mujahid Ali

Attock

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2015

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