Posted by Steve Price on November 27, 1998 at 16:53:11:
In Reply to: Re: Funeral Rug, Prayer Rug posted by Yon Bard on November 27, 1998 at 15:46:00:
Dear Friends,
What I believe is the use of "funeral rugs" is simply to cover the face and, presumably, part of the upper part of the body if the rug is big enough. If that's the case, it wouldn't have to wrap anything.
As for it being a two person prayer rug, I was extremely skeptical when my friend's father said that this is what it was for, but he and his daughter demonstrated by kneeling in front of a 2'6" wide door. Their knees were kept closed as they knelt, and their shoulders touched, which they said was conventional in every respect except that a woman and a man would not be in the same section of a mosque. I have no firsthand knowledge of this subject, but both of them do, and I'm inclined to take them seriously. I'd be interested in hearing from Erol and/or some other Moslem people, particularly those from Turkey, on just how narrow a space two people can use to pray side by side in a mosque.
Steve