Berkley Center

In my family, “religion” means that my dad says grace at the beginning of dinner while my sister and I munch on the baguette. It means a Christmas tree and carols in December, but we’re really celebrating family and togetherness rather than Jesus’ birthday. Basically it is a concept that is present, but in such a habitual and lackadaisical form as allows me to ignore it. Here in Amman quite the opposite is true. Religion blares from mosque loudspeakers at each of the five daily calls to prayer, it mingles on the university campus in the form of women wearing the veil or the hijab, and it lights the skyline at night with the green glow of the minaret lights. The very public presence of religion here is not illogical: approximately 95 percent of Jordan's population is Sunni Muslim, so the society as a whole has a very strong shared religious tradition. However, as an unreligious foreigner, each day in Amman has brought new discoveries as I learn the many ways religion plays a role in daily life here.

The first hint at Jordan’s pious psyche can be heard in any conversation in Arabic. Numerous common phrases invoke the name of Allah: “Insha’Allah” means “God willing” and is used to mean “maybe, hopefully”; “Al-Hamdulillah” is the appropriate response to “How are you?” but it literally means “Thanks be to God.” Even after a month here it still feels a little strange to me to use the name of a god I may or may not believe in, but such is the extent of religion’s role here that these idioms are unavoidable. The call to prayer, as I mentioned above, is another widely audible manifestation of religion’s daily presence in Amman. It plays through loudspeakers, over the radio, and from every minaret to remind the faithful of the five daily prayers. Although the call to prayer does not require that every Muslim instantly stop to pray, it is not uncommon to stumble upon a student unrolling his or her prayer mat in a quiet corner of the university.

My first day at the gym here I was surprised to return to the locker room to find that numerous women had donned loose skirts and hijabs over their exercise clothes and were taking the time to pray before finishing their workouts. Watching Jordanian sports competitions on TV with my host dad, I’ve noticed that each time a goal is scored or a game is won the team members kneel in prayer before letting loose in their celebrations. The 200 percent tax on alcohol throughout the country reflects the fact that alcohol is forbidden in Islam, so the majority of Jordanians will never have the occasion to purchase it. The above are just a few examples of the ways religion is manifest in the societal routine of Jordan.

Coming from a fairly secular family and a society where religion is designated more to the private sphere, it is an eye-opening experience for me to study and live in Amman. The greater presence of religion in daily life here is neither better nor worse than the practices of my own culture, it is just markedly different. These differences themselves are wonderful and valuable because they make me question, challenge, and reconsider the reasons for my own traditions. Every day is an exercise in realizing how the culture in which I have grown up colors my vision of the world, and in learning to understand how and why others may see things differently.