Skip to main content
Mansfield College Oxford home
  • Home
  • About
    • « back
    • About
    • Principal’s Welcome
    • Values and Ethos
    • Environmental Sustainability
    • Our History
      • « back
      • Our History
      • 40 Years of Women at Mansfield
        • « back
        • 40 Years of Women at Mansfield
        • A Photographic History of Mansfield's Women: 1979 - 2020
        • Women at Mansfield: A Brief History
        • A Brief History of Mansfield's Women (For Screenreaders)
    • News & Features
    • Events
    • Mansfield College Public Talks
    • Emeritus & Honorary Fellows
    • Mansfield People
    • Explore Mansfield
    • Mansfield College Chapel
    • Public Documents & GDPR
    • Vacancies
    • Contact us
    • Press
  • Prospective Students
    • « back
    • Prospective Students
    • Why Apply to Mansfield?
    • How to Apply
      • « back
      • How to Apply
      • The Admissions Process
      • Information for Applicants
      • Feedback
    • Undergraduate Study
      • « back
      • Undergraduate Study
      • Subjects
      • Studying at Mansfield
      • Living at Mansfield
      • Student Life
      • Fees & Finance
    • Graduate Study
      • « back
      • Graduate Study
      • Studying at Mansfield
      • Living at Mansfield
      • Student Life
      • Fees and Finance
      • Graduate Scholarships
    • Visiting Student Programme
      • « back
      • Visiting Student Programme
      • Subjects
      • Living at Mansfield
      • Student Life
      • Fees and Finance
      • How to Apply
    • Open Days
    • Schools and Colleges Liaison
      • « back
      • Schools and Colleges Liaison
      • Digital Outreach
        • « back
        • Digital Outreach
        • Mansfield Isolation Conversation
          • « back
          • Mansfield Isolation Conversation
          • 3rd and 4th Century Social Distancing in the Desert (Jenn Strawbridge, Theology)
          • Avoiding an Empty Universe with Solitary Neutrinos (Steve Biller, Physics)
          • Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year (Ros Ballaster, English)
          • Doing Community in Isolation: Mosques, Mecca and One Direction
          • Isolation and Revelation (Alison Salvesen, Oriental Studies)
          • Magnets in isolation (Stephen Blundell, Physics)
          • Oscar Wilde in prison (Michèle Mendelssohn, English)
          • Physically, but not socially, isolated: Insights from a small Micronesian island
          • Power and politics amidst COVID-19 seclusions—perspectives from geography (Amber Murrey, Geography)
          • Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘Fears in Solitude’ (Ruth Scobie, English)
          • Social Distancing in Ancrene Wisse (Lucinda Rumsey, English)
          • Social distancing and quantum computing – are we all qubits now? (Jason Smith, Materials Science)
          • Thomas Nashe: ‘Plague’s Prisoner’ (Chris Salamone, English)
          •  Even buildings need isolation (Sinan Acikgoz, Engineering)
        • Resources to explore your subject
      • Visiting Mansfield
      • Visiting Your School or College
  • Current Students
    • « back
    • Current Students
    • Student Hub
    • The College Office
    • Student Handbook
    • Information for Graduates
    • Prizes, Scholarships & Grants
    • Library
      • « back
      • Library
      • Hours, access and conditions of use
      • Finding and borrowing books
      • Book suggestion form
      • The Library building
      • Special Collections and Archives
      • Assistive equipment & procedures and recommended self-help & study skills reading
      • Online and e-resources
      • Online library forms
    • Graduation
    • Welfare
    • Junior Deans
    • JCR
    • MCR
    • Reach Scholarship
    • FAQs
  • Alumni & Supporters
    • « back
    • Alumni & Supporters
    • Support Mansfield
      • « back
      • Support Mansfield
      • Making Your Gift
        • « back
        • Making Your Gift
        • Give Online
        • Give By Post
        • Give By Phone
        • Give By Bank Transfer
        • International Giving
        • Remembering Mansfield in your Will
        • Other ways to Support Mansfield
          • « back
          • Other ways to Support Mansfield
          • Gifts of Shares and Vouchers
          • Payroll Giving
          • Tax-efficient giving
          • Donating Time and Support
      • Mansfield Matters Fund
      • Student Support Fund
      • Access and Outreach
      • The Campaign for Teaching
      • Buildings and Environment
      • Scholarships
        • « back
        • Scholarships
        • The Adam von Trott Memorial Appeal
          • « back
          • The Adam von Trott Memorial Appeal
          • The Adam Von Trott Scholars
      • Recognising your Gift
      • Remembering Mansfield in your Will
      • How Your Gift Makes a Difference
      • Alumni and Supporter Promise
    • Alumni & Supporter Events
    • News & Publications
    • Latest alumni publications
    • Stay in Touch
    • Meet the Team
    • Mansfield Alumni Association
    • Online Shop
    • Regular Support
  • Conferences & Events
    • « back
    • Conferences & Events
    • Conferencing
    • Conference Facilities
    • Conference Accommodation
    • B&B
    • Fine Dining
    • How to Book

Top bar menu

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Contact
  • Meal booking
  • Student Hub
  • Vacancies
  • Home
  • About
    About
    • Principal’s Welcome
    • Values and Ethos
    • Environmental Sustainability
    • Our History
    • News & Features
    • Events
    • Mansfield College Public Talks
    • Emeritus & Honorary Fellows
    • Mansfield People
    • Explore Mansfield
    • Mansfield College Chapel
    • Public Documents & GDPR
    • Vacancies
    • Contact us
    • Press
  • Prospective Students
    Prospective Students
    • Why Apply to Mansfield?
    • How to Apply
    • Undergraduate Study
    • Graduate Study
    • Visiting Student Programme
    • Open Days
    • Schools and Colleges Liaison
  • Current Students
    Current Students
    • Student Hub
    • The College Office
    • Student Handbook
    • Information for Graduates
    • Prizes, Scholarships & Grants
    • Library
    • Graduation
    • Welfare
    • Junior Deans
    • JCR
    • MCR
    • Reach Scholarship
    • FAQs
  • Alumni & Supporters
    Alumni
    • Support Mansfield
    • Alumni & Supporter Events
    • News & Publications
    • Latest alumni publications
    • Stay in Touch
    • Meet the Team
    • Mansfield Alumni Association
    • Online Shop
    • Regular Support
  • Conferences & Events
    Conference & Events

    Mansfield College offers a range of conference, fine dining and corporate event facilities within one of the most attractive sites in Oxford. 

    • Conferencing
    • Conference Facilities
    • Conference Accommodation
    • B&B
    • Fine Dining
    • How to Book

Doing Community in Isolation: Mosques, Mecca and One Direction

Mecca

Global lockdown threatens something of an existential crisis for many Muslims.  How do you do Islam when mosques are closed and pilgrimages to Mecca are suspended?  Whereas some religious traditions can offer us the experience of isolation experts such as hermits or anchoresses, the Prophet Muhammad himself is reported to have said ‘there is no monasticism in Islam’.  On the contrary, community is so central to the tradition that Sunni Muslims named themselves after it: Sunni is short for the Arabic phrase Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama’a, meaning the People of Custom and Community.  It is the jama’a that comes together for prayers in the mosque five times a day and most importantly on Friday, yawm al-jum’a, literally the day of coming together.  That weekly gathering of course pales in comparison to the millions who travel annually to Mecca for the Hajj, another Pillar of Islam that is as much about our human relationships to one another as to God.

Today the Call to Prayer that echoes from many mosques has an added line: ‘pray in your homes!’  People are now livestreaming Friday sermons, typing pious responses of ‘ameen’ into chat while a river of emojis floats by as the only reminder of the invisible jama’a.  If there is a congregation on screen, it consists of a few solitary-looking figures standing the prescribed two meters apart while modelling a new uniform of masks and gloves.  None of the familiar jostling to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, or children weaving between the lines, or hearty kisses on the cheek, or banknotes quietly slipped into the hands of the needy.  Instead, an emoji of a prostrating monkey floats across the screen.

If you’ve read Alison Salvesen’s piece on ‘Isolation and Revelation’, you know that Islam actually began in a moment of solitude, like other great revelations in prophetic tradition.  Unlike our current isolation, however, the Prophet Muhammad’s retreats to a cave were occasional, brief, and graced with at least one visitor – the angel Gabriel.  Perhaps a better Qur’anic parallel happened in another cave, where several lads and their dog hid for 300 years to escape a crisis.  Luckily for them, they miraculously slept through it all.  Unluckily though, by the time they came out their money was no good.

So Islamic tradition doesn’t seem to give us a lot to work with when it comes to isolation.  And as many Muslims now begin a month of fasting – without the usual alternation of daytime fast and evening festivities – this may be the hardest Ramadan of their lives.  But while fasting is no fun in isolation, it is associated with the cultivation of a social virtue that is just as important as ever in times of Corona: solidarity.  This has often been a key element in Muslim thinking about community, as is evident in the impressive scale of global Islamic charity networks.  Social scientists often use the word ‘identity’ to talk about these imagined bonds between people, but identity is too flat a concept if it is just about group labels.  Something we see embodied in Islamic ritual is the notion that solidarity with a wider community – whether we see them or not – is about identifying with a common purpose or direction.

The idea of maintaining a ‘Virtual Quad’ for the dispersed community of Mansfield College reminded me of the classical Islamic notion of ‘the People of One Direction’ (Ahl al-Qibla).  Much like the boy band brought together by Simon Cowell to compete on X Factor, what makes an effective community is the direction we are all going in.  For Muslims this is partly literal: even when alone, everyone prays facing the same direction (qibla).  That direction is of course toward the Ka’ba in Mecca; a function of the Hajj pilgrimage being to instil in Muslims an inward orientation even after they return to their homes.  Perhaps the Mansfield Quad is not only a social space but also a qibla by which we orientate ourselves toward the purpose we still share, wherever we are.  A qibla that we hope to circumambulate again soon.

 

Alex

Find out more about Dr Alex Henley here:

  • Mansfield Isolation Conversation
    • 3rd and 4th Century Social Distancing in the Desert (Jenn Strawbridge, Theology)
    • Avoiding an Empty Universe with Solitary Neutrinos (Steve Biller, Physics)
    • Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year (Ros Ballaster, English)
    • Doing Community in Isolation: Mosques, Mecca and One Direction
    • Isolation and Revelation (Alison Salvesen, Oriental Studies)
    • Magnets in isolation (Stephen Blundell, Physics)
    • Oscar Wilde in prison (Michèle Mendelssohn, English)
    • Physically, but not socially, isolated: Insights from a small Micronesian island
    • Power and politics amidst COVID-19 seclusions—perspectives from geography (Amber Murrey, Geography)
    • Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s ‘Fears in Solitude’ (Ruth Scobie, English)
    • Social Distancing in Ancrene Wisse (Lucinda Rumsey, English)
    • Social distancing and quantum computing – are we all qubits now? (Jason Smith, Materials Science)
    • Thomas Nashe: ‘Plague’s Prisoner’ (Chris Salamone, English)
    •  Even buildings need isolation (Sinan Acikgoz, Engineering)

Footer menu

  • About
  • Prospective Students
  • Current Students
  • Alumni & Supporters
  • Conferences & Events
  • Student Hub
  • Vacancies

Mansfield College and University of Oxford logos

Facebook iconFacebook
Linkedin iconLinkedin
Twitter iconTwitter
Flickr iconFlickr
Instagram iconInstagram
Copyright Mansfield College 2019. All rights reserved. Site Design by Franks and Franks Development by Olamalu