Yemen: A Day at Dar al Mustafa

I was granted access to the life of a student at Dar al Mustafa. I photo-documented my experience and compiled a variety of video clips on January 3, 2005. I hope to compile these images together into a movie for others to see a typical day here. Here is my draft screenplay of 24 hours at Dar al Mustafa:

3:15 AM

A tiny aluminum hammer makes a great noise as it rattle between two metal bells; it’s my alarm clock waking me early to prepare for my day. I pack several books (that unbeknownst to me I’ll never have time to glance at during this day), bed sheet, towel, and my camera. I’ve been staying in an apartment prior to today in ‘New’ Tarim.

4:30 AM

My ride to Dar al Mustafa arrives. I sit sidesaddle on the motorbike as we rush to the school to enter the masjjid (mosque) before sunrise and the fajr prayer. Fluorescent bulbs occasionally reach the sleepy streets, but the single headlight shows the way to the green glowing dome in the distance.

The ride lasts only two minutes but brings us to a new reality inside this school. Drop your shoes at the door of the masjjid and crack open the doors. Light floods outside and inside there are many individuals sitting towards the front of the room chanting independently. The fragrance of Ud incense hits you next as you enter the room; it arises from a goblet-sized incense burner fanned and carried around by one man.

4:45 AM

A microphone stand is pulled up to the front row of sitting men, and one stands to deliver the athan (call to prayer) over the microphone to the entire town. The tones of his words flow gracefully like a song. The students of Dar al Mustafa kneel or sit cross-legged shoulder-to-shoulder in rows; it has been related to me that space between worshipers would provide room for evil to come between them. The chanting in Arabic begins again but now in unison. They are preparing to pray.

The fajr prayer follows and I join the lines of prayer. A special ritual follows the fajr prayer and supplication??? (and later in the day the asr prayer). The prayer leader turns to face the students. The students approach him in a line to shake his hand and subsequently form a line behind him that snakes back and forth across the room. The line of students continue past the leader shaking his hand and proceed to the hands of each other brother until they stop at the end of the snaking line. This round-robin event of fellowship continues until each person shakes the hand of every other person.

There is blessing in shaking the hands of others (with good intentions). Many students pull the other’s hand or their own retracting hand up to their own face. The act looks like a kiss or sniff and symbolizes the well-intended attempt to take on the good qualities of that other person. It is a compliment to the other person. A more generic technique that is commonly seen is to shake hands and then pull your own retracting hand to your heart or chest. Again, this symbolizes you holding a bit of that dear person in your metaphorical heart.

5:45 AM

Students gather in circles or other small groups on the floor of the great hall that is the masjjid. They gather around their teachers who are also seated on the carpeted floor. Books and notebooks open, a whiteboard and dry erase marker is brought to the teacher, and class begins. I am shadowing a student named Burhaan today and his first class is Arabic grammar; he says that understanding grammar is key to comprehend the meanings in the Qur’an and other texts. The students come from all over the world to study here but the classes are consistently in Arabic; his teacher is from Iraq. Apparently, today’s lesson is on the use of inflectives at the end of words, when are they used and not used.

I see at least four classes running concurrently for about 45 minutes each in the room. There are other students that sit and converse in the room. They seem to pray, study, or conduct their own individual tutoring sessions. After class, there is time after class to revise with peers, talk to the teacher, or relax.

7:00 AM

Burhaan is summoned by his teacher to a class early as we walk to attend a extra class on jurisprudence or law. This class is on recitation. He recites a text from his book and the teacher corrects his Arabic pronunciation. The class is short, only about five minutes each day – but Brohan is a serious student and appreciates this opportunity to improve his speech.

We walk back over to the jurisprudence class. Brohan has offered to translate the class instruction for me but the content is above both of our heads. The Arabic taught in Dar al Mustafa is fusha (classical). It’s not the type you’ll find on the street, but it is the formal language that is found in the ancient texts and necessary to comprehending the teachings that comprise the Islamic chain of transmission.

NB: With the exclusion of the Wahabbis, all Islamic schools require the direct teaching of Islamic law (Sharia) from one generation to the next. It is not for the individual to interpret the Qur’an or hadith without guidance, and this guidance or traditional teaching, in my and many students’ opinions, is seriously lacking in the world.

9:00 AM

Time for breakfast. After visiting a student’s room that is fit for sleep and storage only, we proceed past a row of faucets for washing hands, face, and feet (i.e. general hygiene or wudu) and into the dining hall. The dining hall is a tiled room where students gather in small groups to eat together. One of the dormitory rooms is assigned responsibility each day for serving and cleaning (about every two weeks); they bring a disposable thin plastic sheet in between each group of seven student seated on the floor and lay down the meal. Tuesday and Friday are a breakfast treat of eggs with the normal beans and bread. Individuals say a brief, "Bismillah," and begin eating after the oldest student starts. I’m apparently the oldest student today, without inquiring of my age. I enjoy conversation with some western students as well as the food.

After breakfast comes sleep, these students sleep around 11pm and wake around 4am. A couple hours of sleep or rest before the duhr (noon) prayer is standard. Students head to the dormitory and a bunk bed, and I head to the large room above the masjjid were new students reside when they first come here. [Later in the day the students and I are moved either to the dormitory or the guest room and the previous room is locked].

11:55 AM

The athan resonates smoothly across the loudspeakers, and ears tell the brain that it’s time to wake-up. Sleepy heads rise from pillows and advance towards tiled washrooms. Loss of consciousness (i.e. sleeping) is regarded as one event that ends the state of wudu. A majority of Muslims state that one must be in the state of (or "have") wudu in order for their prayer to be valid. This is a ritual washing of the hands, head, and feet. Students stand in front of faucets at waist height, and either stand or kneel on a knee-high tile box for this cleaning in preparation for prayer.

Then students conduct the duhr prayer in the regular fashion. The prayer is followed by more classed but it seems that Brohan’s afternoon class has been cancelled. I sit and talk with a student while other classes and student review continues. He shows me one of his books and lists off the titles of the chapters; the content covers edeb (etiquette) from childhood, parenthood, buying, selling, trading, sleeping, wudu and ghusul (cleansing), and more. Muslims who choose it have many aspects of life structured for them. The student I sit with is fasting this day [as part of the 10 days of Hajj]; we lose track of time and miss lunch.

3:00 PM

The athan calls students to the asr prayer, which is followed by the round-robin of fellowship as seen in the morning. There seems to be free time, but you still see students seated in prayer and study in the vast carpeted space that is the masjjid.

I get special early access to the computer room that normally opens at 4pm. There is both satellite and modem access to the internet and I check my email and a few websites with the former, quick connection. I think students pay 3 rial/minute but I am not charged this as a guest of the school; I get off-line as the students enter at 4:00 pm.

5:30 PM

For the fourth time, the athan announces prayer. This magrib prayer comes at sunset, which is also the time that Muslims break their fast. The few students who are fasting rush to the dining hall because there are blessings with eating at this time, rather than waiting. The Islamic fast only occurs from sunrise to sunset (fajr to magrib prayer). They join the other students, about five minutes later, in the masjjid for prayer.

After magrib prayer, students gather together in study groups to read the Qur’an. The groups vary in size but each member takes turns reading in the circle. Each student has the intention to memorize passages from the Qur’an, and eventually master the entire text. In traditional Islamic schools, it is common to have students memorize the whole text. In fact, many Muslims belief that prayer is only valid if memorized suras (chapters of the Qur’an) are recited, and this usually involves three or more suras in Arabic. The respected scholars have memorized the entire Qur’an, 114 suras. [The last three suras are short and called the protection suras; often they are memorized after the very first sura, called the Fatihah].

Memorization of a book sounds like madness, but there is a built-in trick with the Qur’an. One of the reasons the Prophet Muhammad surprised the people of his time with his revelations from Allah was because he words came out as pure poetry. Qur’an recitation may sound rough to your ears but, if you know Arabic, you will find a rhythm and rhyme to the pronunciation. This poetic text makes for a much easier memorization and was recorded in this fashion from the Prophet to the Qur’an.

7:30 PM

The ishr prayer finishes the obligatory prayers of the day. Students again meet with teachers and in small groups for their studies. It really seems like there is no break to one’s ability to study all day long. The learning at Dar al Mustafa is an intense experience that occurs 6 days a week for up to four years, by this time students have completed and been examined on the four books that this school teaches. However, the quest for knowledge continues past these books with other qualified scholars (shieks) in the community and the world.

Course taken in day include Arabic grammar, rules of punciation (tajweed), and general memorization of the Qur'an.

8:15 PM dinner

The dinner tonight is the typical fish and rice (and mumkin (maybe) a tomato sauce?). It seems that the morning eggs and beans is also being served with bread again. One half of the dining hall closet to where the food comes from the kitchen window seems to be very full with hungry students.

While all students should eat at the school as "students of knowledge," you will find them occasionally drifting outside to the seemingly only restaurant in New Tarim, Palm Beach, or to small businesses that may serve grilled chicken, roasted camel meat and flat bread, or kebabs, and juices, tea, or soft drinks. [A rare treat is to be invited to a family’s house, and this is where I eat twice this evening]. Granted, students are free to wander in and out of school if they can make time outside their studies but it pulls them away from what I can only vaguely describe as the purifying experience. The highest goals in the school seem to be not necessarily scholarship because Dar al Mustafa equally promotes spiritual growth; purification of the heart (2) and then devotion to Allah (1) are the highest aims from what I have determined myself from talking to various older students. But, Allah knows best and students and scholars, equally, put themselves at Allah’s will though they use their intellect to understand Allah as best they can.



11:10 PM

I shower and hit the "sack" in the school’s guest room. My shower is a private tiled closet with a toilet and a drain in the floor. Soap sits on the toilet top and a bucket with a large cup sits on the floor for guest use. A faucet for the bucket has two knobs for water that turns out not to be freezing or boiling but warm (though this is relative since I think it’s hot to cool during the day, and most students here think it’s warm to freezing). There is a small hose for cleaning one’s backside in conjunction with the toilet but it’s not very effective for showering. It’s a bucket bath for me – which reminds me fondly of former days. [Students would have the same set-up, minus a provided bar of soap, bucket, cup, and a toilet, which would be replaced by two foot pads and a porcelain hole in the floor (Remember to remove your lower garments, use the hose, wet your left hand first, and clean yourself well)]. I sleep soundly on a thin, covered open-cell foam mattress on the floor after a bit of reading – but the fluorescent light remains on until later and conversation continues in this communal room set-up for about eight people, though only four are present tonight.

The End