Life will happen and take you to places to pray you never imagine

They say we are only travellers in this world and everyone will eventually depart to the afterlife one day, inshaAllah. However, as long as we have life on this earth, we also do travel within this world, place to place, country to country, continent to continent.

As a Muslim, one thing that should be unwavering and constant is our daily Salah. We can move other tasks around, but Salah time cannot be changed. So what if you cannot find a mosque or prayer room where you are travelling? Would you insist on finding a proper place for your Magrib salah and risk missing your Salah?

The GOOD news is you do not need to have a mosque or a perfect place to offer your Salah, because,

“The entire earth has been made a place of prayer”

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī 317)

No matter where we go, we can simply put our head on the ground anywhere and worship the only true God, The Most Merciful. Having a prayer mat with you adds to the majesty of the experience and allows you to create your own Portable Masjid.

If you are an adventurous travelling Muslim like me who loves to take himself to new places every year, before embarking on any journey, study the area and plan where you will offer the respective prayers for that day. Travelling to a place which has no mosque around can be challenging. But since we are told that the entire earth is a place of prayer, here are the three spots I go for my daily prayers that are both pleasant and quiet.

Nearby Park: Use your navigation tool on your mobile and search for nearby parks. You will find plenty of quiet places here to spread your prayer mat on the ground and offer your Salah.

Car Park: Every shopping centre or giant retail outlets have their own car parking space for the customer. Usually these car parks are quite empty. Take this opportunity and stand in one of the parking spaces and pray.

Empty Classroom/Meeting Room: If you are travelling to any university or international offices, look around to find a classroom or a meeting place that is empty. Your Magrib salah can take up to five minutes only, so there is simply no harm in using one of these places for such little time.

There are surely more other places than these three that you can find to offer your salah when you are on the go. Wherever you go, don’t forget to keep your Pocket Sejadah with you and ensure your meeting with Allah five times everyday.

Take a look at how Ahmad is preparing for Salah everyday whenever he cannot find a mosque.