"Door to Door" Call to Prayer

I had a interesting experience earlier this week. The doorbell rang about 7pm and I went to the gate to answer it. Three men in dishdashas were standing there. Two were older with long beards. One was younger; no beard. They asked me if I was Muslim. I replied that I was a "...Christian, a follower of Jesus". They apologized for some reason and then asked me if my neighbor was a Muslim. I replied that both on either side of me were Muslims.

When I inquired in a friendly way what they were doing they told me they were going from house to house trying to get the Muslims to pray with them. I told them I'd like to come see them at the mosque sometime and talk about faith. They welcomed me.

I think these gentlemen weren't thinking of trying to convince me of the truth of Islam but were working to get self-proclaimed Muslims to come and pray regularly at the mosque as it's required in Islam. And I've met many observant Muslims who see their role as trying to "energize" or motivate "lapsed" Muslims.

I'm glad for the introductions to these men and hope to get down to the mosque sometime in the next month.

Pre-Flight Islamic Prayer on Jazeera Airways

I went to Kuwait last weekend to see one of my children in a school sports tournament. One of the wonderful things that has developed in the region in the last 5 years or so are low cost regional airlines. Jazeera Airways, a Kuwaiti airline, is one such company. I got a roundtrip air ticket from Dubai for about 360 AED (100 USD).

The flights were great and one very interesting aspect of this particular airline is that before every takeoff there is an Islamic prayer for travel that is broadcast on the airplane television screens. You hear someone performing the prayer (it's a recording) and see the Arabic text scrolling onscreen. It takes about 1 minute or so total. The video below is of the last 30 seconds of the prayer with my phone camera focused on the screen. You can't see the scrolling words but you can hear the prayer pretty well.



I've not experienced this prayer on any of the other flights out of Dubai. I've wondered if it's on Jazeera since it's out of Kuwait and Kuwait tends to be more religiously conservative than the UAE.

I tried to google "Islamic Travel Prayer" and came up with a number of hits. This one seemed to make the most sense but I still don't know if it is the actual prayer that is being spoken on the video. If someone who knows Arabic could listen to the video and tell me if the prayer is the one I've got printed here I would appreciate it.

Allah is the Most Great. Allah is the Most Great. Allah is the Most Great. Glory is to Him Who has provided this for us though we could never have had it by our efforts. Surely, unto our Lord we are returning. O Allah, we ask You on this our journey for goodness and piety, and for works that are pleasing to You . O Allah , lighten this journey for us and make its distance easy for us . O Allah, You are our Companion on the road and the One in Whose care we leave our family . O Allah , I seek refuge in You from this journey's hardships, and from the wicked sights in store and from finding our family and property in misfortune upon returning.

Also, what do you think about the idea of a 'travel prayer'? Does it make sense? What about the others onboard who are not Muslims... Does this make sense for them?