Interesting Characters Seen During Prayer

Asslamo alykom, this is a short compilation of some of the funny personalities or characters that are seen during the prayer. This is not meant to make fun of the people who pray, but only to take a glance at the faults that we fall in during prayer, and to help correct them. They are not written in any specific order, enjoy.

1.       Yawner: This one is one of the most common characters we see during the prayer. It usually starts once the Imam says “Allahu Akbar.” Extreme cases will yawn at least once every rakah, and will get contagious very quickly. 

2.       Foot-A-Phobic: This character is fairly common. They tend to have a phobia of feet. When you place your foot next to them as the prophet PBUH ordered, they remove their foot away. The more you keep going the more they move. Becarful or Soon after, you will end up doing the splits.

3.       Mr. Itchy: Itchy is described as a scratcher who starts off upon the beginning of the prayer. Extreme cases will have jerky movements. Itchy may also be a yawner (see yawner.)

4.       Tricky: you will not notice this one right away, hence the name tricky. This character will be looking around during his prayer. You will think he is looking at you, and you’ll almost say “Asslamo alykom”, Then suddenly he makes ruku as you move away wondering.

5.       Impatient: Impatient has the tendency to want to go into the next step of the prayer before the Imam gives the cue. You will usually see them starting to go down into sujood before the imam goes, and if the imam takes longer than usual, they will hang in the air (between stand position and sujood.) 

6.       Sleeping Beauty: As the name implies, the sleeping beauty sleeps during prayer. This character is not seen much, but sadly it does happen. This one will catch you off guard when you see a body next to you (through peripheral vision) leaning forward as if falling. Sleeping beauty usually catch themselves before the fall. I am assuming a very rare number of them actually complete the fall.

7.       Marathoner: This character starts and finishes two rakahs in less than 45 seconds. The sign of a marathoner is the similarity of doing sujood like a chicken pecking for food (symbolized by the prophet PBUH)

8.       Funky: This character is described by a very funky smell, usually coming from socks and feet. The age group for funky usually stands between 8-20. 

9.       Vocal: During the silent prayer (ex. Last two rakah of Ishaa), vocal will let you know exactly what he is reciting and what Duaas he is saying. This is also relatively common, and some are very disturbing.

10.   Sheesh-Kabab: The smell of kabab or other middleeastern foods will take off from this person’s Jilbab. Apparently this character was exposed to the heavy aroma at their home before coming to the masjid.

Moral of the story: We are not perfect, but try your best to concentrate on the prayer, and don’t bother other Musaleen so that you both can get the full reward of prayer. The END