The Worshipper's Experience — Almohannad Alsbeai

Introduction

When I was a child, I used to accompany my father every Friday to the mosque. He always sparked my curiosity, and perhaps weighed down my childhood with questions bigger than my years: how could the children of Muslim communities who don’t speak Arabic understand what the imam was saying?

I would watch them during the khutbah (sermon), and some of them looked lost in thought. Did they understand anything? Were the meanings reaching them, or were they simply sitting in respect for the ritual and waiting for the moment to say “amen” to the supplication? I couldn’t imagine how a person could sit through a sermon they didn’t understand a word of, and continue to attend it every week.

The years went by, and these questions grew with me. Then came the day that changed everything. A Pakistani friend invited me to visit a certain mosque in Riyadh, where they had a different experience for the Friday sermon. Out of curiosity, I accepted the invitation, and I didn’t know I was about to live a moment of transformation in my understanding of the experience of worship itself.

Redefining the Worshipper’s Experience — A Case Study

I arrived at the Sulaiman Abdulaziz Al-Bassam Grand Mosque (may God have mercy on him) in the Qortoba neighbourhood of Riyadh. Beyond the beauty of the architectural style and the design of the spaces, executed with care and craftsmanship, and the abundance of parking around the mosque and the plentiful signage around the mosque’s facilities …

I went in early and sat in the middle to observe those around me. I noticed two huge screens at the front of the mosque, one on the right and the other on the left of the imam’s pulpit.

The call to the khutbah began, and its text appeared translated on the two screens.

But what happened next absolutely astounded me.

The khutbah was being translated live into English and Urdu, in large fonts that even those at the very back of the mosque, in the last row, could easily read.

Wait, then in the corner of the screen, a live stream of a person translating the khutbah into sign language suddenly appeared. This addition to the translation reflects the commitment of those operating the mosque to inclusivity, even for people with disabilities. People who are deaf face challenges when relying on written text alone, since sign language isn’t merely a literal translation but a complete means of communication that conveys meaning more clearly and reinforces the visual expressions and gestures that the interpreter conveys, supporting emotional and spiritual understanding.

Adding to the beauty of the experience was the lovely voice of the muezzin and the even more beautiful recitation of the imam. Are we done? Not yet …

After the prayer ended, a QR code appeared on the screens. If you scanned it, it would download the full khutbah for you as a PDF file. A finishing touch on the experience that allows the worshipper to review the khutbah later or share it with anyone.

On this day, I saw something different in the faces of the worshippers who had packed the mosque before the khutbah began. The khutbah was no longer just words in a language not understood, but a complete experience that reaches the hearts of everyone, regardless of their language.

After living this experience, I decided to write about it. Not just because it’s an innovative idea, but because it carries within it a deeper message — that Islam, in its essence, is a universal message, and it must reach everyone in the way they can understand and absorb.

Understanding the Worshipper’s Journey — Briefly

To build a successful worship experience, it’s essential to understand the worshipper’s journey from the moment they arrive at the place of worship until they leave. This journey includes three main stages:

Before worship: the experience starts before the worshipper arrives at the mosque. They carry with them expectations and a state of psychological and spiritual readiness. From here comes the importance of making it easy to reach the place of worship, whether by providing appropriate car parking, clear signage, and other facilities like toilets and ablution areas.
During worship: the place must be prepared in a way that supports focus and reverence. This requires creating a quiet, clean, and orderly environment, with appropriate infrastructure and amenities that take into account the needs of all groups, including the elderly and people with disabilities.
After worship: when the worshipper leaves, they should feel a sense of reassurance and spiritual contentment, and the place should have provided them with a positive experience that makes them want to return. From here comes the importance of ongoing communication with worshippers through various means, such as social media or through direct communication channels with those operating the mosques, with the goal of continuously improving and developing services.

Conclusion

Designing an outstanding worship experience requires a deep understanding of the worshippers’ spiritual and practical needs, understanding their cultural backgrounds, taking into account their mother tongues, and then harnessing modern technologies to create an outstanding worship experience for them that strengthens their desire to return to the place and continue their spiritual journey.

The practices of this mosque are worth replicating across all the mosques of large neighbourhoods. To those who operate and fund it, I ask God to bless them and reward them with the best reward. They have done good, they have created, and they have mastered.

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