In the alley in Jakarta, children were shouting and playing around

Boy jumping in an alley
Boy jumping in an alley
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Muslim men are obligated to attend Friday mass prayers at mosques. Men in this case must be adults. Young children, even boys, are not obliged to attend the mass prayer. As evidence of this, while mass prayers were being held at the mosque, I wandered into an alley near the mosque in a densely populated residential area in Jakarta, where boys were playing happily, oblivious to the mass prayers.

Incidentally, the age of adulthood varies by country and culture. In Japan, the age of adulthood has been 20 since 1876, but it is scheduled to be lowered to 18 on April 1, 2022. Here in Indonesia, the age is 21. Since teenagers were clearly participating in the collective worship, albeit only in a token way, it is more appropriate to say that the obligation to participate in the collective worship is not a legal form of adulthood, but rather when one reaches the age where one is considered a full-fledged adult.

The term "full-fledged" has a nice ring to it, but it has no clear relationship to the actual age. Just as there is no clear age at which Muslim women begin to cover their hair with a hijab, there is no clear age at which Muslim men are obligated to participate in group prayer. The narrow alleyway I was walking through was filled with the playful voices of boys who were not participating in the group prayer.

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日本語
Apr 2021 INDONESIA PEOPLE

PHOTO DATA

No

11864

Shooting Date

Jan 2020

Posted On

April 2, 2021

Modified On

August 24, 2023

Place

Jakarta, Indonesia

Genre

Street Photography

Camera

SONY ALPHA 7R II

Lens

ZEISS BATIS 2/40 CF

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