My family is a Shia-Muslim family. For us, our household culture revolves around our religious beliefs. One thing that we all carry with ourselves whenever we go on long distance trips is the Janamaz. The Janamaz, pronounced “Jai-num-az,” is a prayer mat that Muslims use in order to fulfill their five daily obligatory prayers. Since my family belongs to a Shia-Muslim household we also carry a sajdagar that we use to prostrate on. The sajdagar is used because according to our Shia beliefs, we are asked to prostrate on items that can not be worn and also can not be eaten so we do not waste resources. Since the janamaz is made up of threads that can potentially be worn, sajda (prostration) is invalid on a janamaz. Instead, we choose to do it on items made of clean clay, wood etc. The third item in this janamaz is the tasbeeh. The tasbeeh is used to measure the amount of times a person recites something. Some times somethings are asked to recite 33 times, sometimes 100 times and sometimes even 1000 times and the tasbeeh, which is usually made up of 100 beads helps keep count of how many times one has read something.  

 

– Sarah

Relationship:  Im/migrant who arrived as a child Im/migrant who arrived as a child