KARACHI: More than any other plush carpet or rug in the house, it was always the beautiful janamaz, or prayer mat, which as a child would draw me to them. I liked passing my hand over the velvety, silken smooth material. My grandmother had several of them in various colours and after saying her prayers on one she would fold it over one corner before coming to it again for the next prayer. She used to let it remain there on the floor near her bed after Asr prayers usually, as the time gap between Asr and Maghrib is quite short. At other times the janamaz would be folded and placed on her side table shelf. If not there then it would be folded and hung on the back of the nearest chair.

My mother also loved the plush velvet janamaz. Like my grandmother, she also had a nice big collection which had grown over the years thanks to the gifts people would bring her from Saudi Arabia. And then there was my father, who had a different janamaz. It was a simple white and green woven plastic chatai prayer mat. He would say that since the feet would be wet or moist after wuzu, he was afraid of spoiling the beautiful prayer mats that the women in the house owned, so he preferred a practical option.

It takes some effort while visiting the shops which sell these prayer mats to refrain from buying every other one that you see. They have all of them — the practical plastic chatai ones, the woven khais mats, which are as practical with rollout carpets as well as the plush expensive kinds which may be made locally or are imported from China.

“Normally, the ones that your friends bring back for you from their pilgrimage to Makkah are made in Pakistan,” says Abdul Jabbar Multani Shaheen of Shaheen’s Muslim Collection, one of the many shops selling prayer mats and tasbeeh right outside New Memon Masjid on M.A. Jinnah Road.

There are several customers in his shop buying more than just one or two prayer mats. They are also buying lots of beaded tasbeeh. The shopkeeper smiles. “Since all these things available abroad are made here, instead of adding to their luggage upon their return, the people buy them here alone and make gift packets to distribute among friends,” he says.

At Ajweri Traders nearby, there are prayer mats made from acrylic yarn with the shiny finish that are mostly made in Gujranwala and cost from Rs450 to Rs500. The polyester prayer mats, meanwhile, are for Rs150 each as are the Peshawar-made chatai prayer mats. They also have some packed in plastic zip covers like new blankets, which are piled on top of each other towards one side. “Those are the mink prayer mats, which are made in China,” the shopkeeper tells you while quoting their price in the Rs650 to Rs750 range. It was also explained that the mink Chinese prayer mats also had a layer of foam sown inside.

Another shop in the vicinity, Al Aziz Traders, had many rollout rugs to accommodate several people. “They are usually seven feet by 12 feet in size and are bought in bulk by mosques,” says Abdul Sattar the shopkeeper, adding that the sale of prayer mats goes up every year during the holy month of Ramazan. He also said that Pakistan exported prayer mats to several other Muslim countries besides Saudi Arabia, including Egypt, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2019