mosques crippled and not playing their great role today,

    Mosques in Islam

 From the events of the emigration to Madinah, it is clear that the Prophet (PBUH) never stayed in any place unless he built a mosque therein for the believers to gather. He built the Quba mosque when he stayed there for four days. He also built a mosque between Quba and Madinah when the time of the Friday prayer came while he was in the residence of the tribe of Salem ibn Auf in the heart of Ranonaa’ Valley.

    When he arrived in Madinah, the first act he performed was the building of a mosque.

    This indicates the importance of a mosque in Islam. All acts of worship (ibadah) in Islam are for the purification of the soul, refinement of morals, and strengthening the ties of mutual cooperation among the Muslims. The congregational prayers and the Friday and Eid prayers are strong examples of the nature of the Muslim community and in the unity of their opinions, goals and cooperation in achieving righteousness and in fearing Allah.

    Thus, if this is the case with the acts of worship, it is no wonder that mosques carry a great social and spiritual place in the lives of the Muslims. The mosque is the thing which unites them and their efforts. It refines their souls and awakens their minds and hearts. It solves their problems. The mosque shows their strength and cohesiveness.

    The history of the mosques in Islam has proved that from them come the great armies of Islam which rush to fill the earth with Allah’s guidance. From the mosques the beams of the light of guidance emanate for the Muslims and others. Inside them, the seeds of Islamic civilization develop and grow.

    Is it not true that Abu Bakr (RA), `Umar (RA), `Osman (RA), Ali (RA), Khalid (RA), Sad (RA), Abu Obadiah (RA), and their likes from among the greats of Islamic history were but the students of the Muhammad’s school which was headquartered in the Prophet’s mosques?

    Another special characteristic of the mosques in Islam is that the word of truth emanates from them every week on the tongues of the preachers. The topic may be about forbidding evil and enjoining good or an invitation to do some good, an awakening for the heedless, an invitation to assembly, objections to a wrongdoer, or a warning about a tyrant.

    If we see the mosques crippled and not playing their great role today, it is due to the fault of some of their paid preachers, mercenaries or the ignorant. On the day when the strong leaders and the scholars of Islamic legislation, sincere to Allah and His Messenger, give advice to the leaders and common Muslims and ascend the pulpits and lead the prayers, on that day the mosque will return to its leading position in the Islamic society. The mosque will return to its role in raising real men, graduating heroes, reforming corruption, fighting evil and building society upon the foundation of fearing and pleasing Allah alone. We hope for this to take place, Allah willing, when the vanguard of our purified, believing youths, who are educated with Allah’s religion and who behave with the Prophet’s manners, occupy the pulpits and the rooms of the mosques.

 If you review the history of Islam you would note that great emphasis on the building of mosques has been laid from the very beginning of Islam.

Living in non-Muslim countries we as Muslims (especially our youth) carry the risk of losing our Islamic Identity. Aside from the rigorous discipline we must establish at home in learning and maintaining the Islamic culture, the mere fact that we are surrounded by non-Islamic ideas and emotions can have an overpowering impact on our personality. Trying to maintain Islam in isolation from the Ummah is not only difficult but Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam also advised against it:

…“Shaitan is a wolf like the wolf that preys on sheep, taking the isolated and the stray among them; therefore, avoid factionalism and keep to the Congregation and the collective and the Masjid.” [Ahmad]

It is of vital importance that the Muslims (including the community leaders) adhere to the example of Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam in all aspects of life. If there is any deviation than it is up to each and everyone one in the Muslim community to give his or her advise based on the commands and prohibitions outlined in the Qur’an and Sunnah.

For the Imams and Community Leaders: It is of the utmost importance when engaging in the day-to-day management of Muslim affairs, to observe the Ahkam of Islam with Taqwa, and to be very meticulous in following the laws and the trade regulations. In this way, it will be extremely difficult for the media to make a news piece about us or the centers we manage. Furthermore, it should always be considered that any information taken by the media will be publicized and will as a result, affect us and the Masjid, school or community centre that we are responsible for. More importantly, it could have an effect on the whole community as well. Being a leader in the community also means that we will be under the watchful eyes of the public. Consequently, it would be an extra motivation to examine and implement the example of Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam and of those who emulated him. For example, recall how Umar ibn Al-Khattab (R.A.) cooked with his own hands after learning that a mother and her children living as citizens of the Khilafah were hungry

Consequently, it is vital that we utilize all means permissible in Shariah to organize the Muslim communities in the non-Muslim lands and assist each other in holding onto Islam and establishing a sense of community amongst ourselves. The Masjid, Islamic schools and community centers are excellent tools for achieving this goal as they can serve the function of bringing Muslims together on the basis of Islam and facilitate the dissemination of Islamic ideas and emotions.

  If I said anything correct, then it is from Allah (Subhanahu WA Ta’aala),

      And if I erred, then that is from me and Shaitan.

May Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) make us from the Companions of His Book and unite us with His righteous slaves in the highest gardens of Paradise. Amen.

May Allah Subhanahu wata`aalaa grant us what is best in this world and the next!

Action speaks louder then words my friend’s practice Islam the way of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) did.

 May Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) help us to do that which He loves and which pleases Him?

May Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) make our efforts sincere and keep us all on the straight path...........

Feel free to Share the information here with everyone you know

         P.S.: "Have fun praying don’t forget to make Dua for me...

What kind of a Mosque do you have?

The mosque is a lifeline for Islam and Muslims

If the migrants had no houses of their own, there were many other houses in Madinah which if shared were able to offer a temporary relief. If truth be told, the migrants needed homes, rather than just houses. The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) sought to offer them the former. The latter, he knew, would come in a due course. The migrants might have hastened immediately to acquire houses for themselves. But such would have been at the expense of acquiring homes, because they were in a foreign country in Madinah, having been forced to abandon their homes, properties, family roots and quite a number of closest family members in Makkah. Thus, providing homes, and not houses, was a priority for the migrants. That exactly was the thing which The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam had in mind and the natives of Madinah (the helpers or Ansars) were excited about offering as a solution till the migrants got the houses and homes of their own. Hence, the helpers offered their houses to be shared with their brethren from Makkah. The helpers offered the migrants a genuine home which, although transitory in nature, went a long way towards the realization of the Prophet’s and Islam’s mission in Madinah.

But there was nothing that could offset the absence of a mosque, the house of Allah, in Madinah. There was no existing structure, or an institution, that could offer any relief in case the establishment of a mosque was delayed. Even in the world of ideas, conceptually, a substitute for the mosque phenomenon did not exist. The matter thus could not be deferred, or taken lightly, as every forthcoming initiative utterly depended on it. Glorifying and worshipping Allah at a collective level could not have been deferred any longer. Perceiving and constructing a house of Allah, i.e., a mosque, for the purpose, was an obligation long overdue. The people were kept longing and craving for so long. Once in Madinah, they hardly could wait to bring their elongated unjustifiable misery to an end. Such is the importance of the mosque in the implementation of Islam as a comprehensive way of life. Such is the importance of the mosque, furthermore, in the development of the Islamic community, culture and civilization. The mosque is a lifeline for Islam and Muslims. On it, their survival depends.

Strengthening fraternity among the migrants (muhajirs) and helpers (Ansars, or the natives of Madinah) was at all times one of the major goals of the Prophet’s plans and actions. His general planning and building pursuits were no exception. By planning and building his mosque, prior to anything else The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam wanted very much to help everyone in Madinah in terms of their quick and smooth adaptation and acclimatization to what was transpiring around them. Thus, he wanted to help the migrants and ease their pain with reference to the new natural environment and climate in Madinah which they suddenly found themselves in and which apparently did not suit them well, as well as with reference to their distressing economic and psychological conditions that resulted from the migration. Also The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam wanted very much to assist the helpers (Ansars), or the natives of Madinah, to come to terms as quickly and as painlessly as possible with a new socio-political landscape that was forming in their homeland, and with a new code of life which most of them had freshly embraced.

While building the mosque The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) postponed for a time building houses for the migrants. The houses were built after the completion of the mosque. During that period – approximately six or seven months – the migrants stayed together and shared almost everything with the helpers. They were thus of great mutual help to each other. They in a brotherly fashion helped each other overcome their respective problems and issues, one side treating the difficulties of the other as their own. The helpers not only had no objection to the prospects of being of service to their brethren from Makkah, but also felt quite honored about it. Indeed, the longer they stayed together, the stronger and warmer the relationship between them could have been fostered. The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam himself stayed in the house of a helper Abu Ayub al-Ansari till the mosque and with it his first houses were completed.

All the migrants, except The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam were distributed amongst the helpers by drawing lots.

Indeed, a relationship of true brotherhood between the migrants and the helpers was a precondition for the Madinah society to succeed and for the mosque phenomenon to become fully operational in it.  While the mosque was in the process of building, its custodians and users, at the same time, were subjected to a series of spiritual and social upgrading and refinements deeply rooted in mutual care, love and respect. Their collective building of the Prophet’s mosque, while all staying together in the shared houses of the helpers (Ansars), signified both an important segment of the process of a total transformation to which the helpers and migrants had been subjected, and a ground where the foremost results of such a process were becoming more and more apparent. So, when the mosque became ready, the people were ready too, but not just to use the mosque, but also to maximize its enormous potentials and to exploit them to the fullest for the good of the community. Indeed, both the Prophet’s mosque and the people were ready for each other. Their respective capacities corresponded to each other.

        If I said anything correct, then it is from Allah (Subhanahu WA Ta’aala),

      And if I erred, then that is from me and Shaitan.

May Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) make us from the Companions of His Book and unite us with His righteous slaves in the highest gardens of Paradise. Amen.

May Allah Subhanahu wata`aalaa grant us what is best in this world and the next!

Action speaks louder then words my friend’s practice Islam the way of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) did.

 May Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) help us to do that which He loves and which pleases Him?

May Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) make our efforts sincere and keep us all on the straight path...........

Feel free to Share the information here with everyone you know

         P.S.: "Have fun praying don’t forget to make Dua for me...

"To be continued"

Do You Have A Mosque?

             ASALATU WASALAMU ALAYKA YA RASULLALLAH Sallallaahu ‘alayhi WA Salaam

Dawa starts at the Mosque

Dawa to Muslims and non-Muslims is a necessity and a tool of survival.

Dawa starts at the Mosque. (I mean you hear it at your Mosque first, and then we take to our entire homes i.e. tell our families what the Imam said.

"Speaking what is good is better than silence, and silence is better than speaking evil."

The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam said:
"...The whole Earth has been made a mosque and pure for me" [Bukhari].

Do we need more Mosque and Dawa centers? Or should we clean what we got.

 Open a Dawa Center near you.

 Islam is growing and now there are over 2,000 Mosques in UK.

But, is it the number of Muslims or the number of Mosques which reflects the true parameters in the strength of Islam?

Unless we build a community around the mosque to support and maintain the Mosque

And strengthen the community; the mosque itself will not protect the community.

Building a mosque is a prophetic and Islamic tradition of Muslim Communities.

 One of the first things that the Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) did when he entered Medina was to build a mosque, after the mosque of Quba.

O.K. we have built beauty full Mosques. The question I’m asking is what the community has benefited from it? What the young generations have gained from it? What kind of Dawa the mosque gives? Is it in English? Do you understand Jummah (Friday khutba).Do you like your Mosque? What about your children?

Big question is what about British Muslims born here? There is no Dawa given from Mosque to non Muslims.

.

    "Only those shall maintain the mosques of Allah who believe in Almighty Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD)

 And the last day, establish regular prayer and practice regular charity and fear none (at all) except God. It is they who are expected to be on true guidance." (9:18)

Since the main function of the Masjid committees will be to maintain the mosque,

it is clear that its members should fulfill the three conditions mentioned in the above verse, i.e.

1) Belief in Almighty Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) and the hereafter

2) Practice of regular prayer and regular charity

3) Fearing none but Almighty Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD)

Let me explain these conditions in some detail and see how you can recognize those who fulfill them.

After reading this explanation, many will probably feel that there is hardly anyone in their community who fulfils the above conditions in their entirety.

But while this is most likely the case, we should not make it a reason to ignore the Quranic guidance.

 If we cannot find brothers and sisters who fulfill the above conditions in their entirety, we should nominate and elect those who come closest to doing so.

 Belief in God and the hereafter

 Those who fulfill the first condition mentioned in the Quranic verse are not primarily motivated by the desire to gain importance or power in the community or by any other similar worldly desire. They engage in Islamic work for the pleasure of Almighty Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD)

 (I.e. no pleasure of anything that is not Almighty Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD)

, Only for the pleasure of Allah SWT, Jannah (eternal bliss) in the hereafter and not for their inner satisfaction in this life only.

A sign of such people is that they will not go after projects whose main attraction is a glamour value, e.g.

 “By Building a mosque whether or not it is the most needed project, only in order to be able to say to the community: "look! We, too, have built a mosque".

Those who have genuine faith in Almighty Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD)

 And the hereafter will not concentrate on projects whose results can be seen quickly and in tangible form.

They will go, rather, for the projects that the community really needs.

 More than half the British Muslim population is aged fewer than 25, and more than half of all British Muslims were born here.

Although mosque attendance amongst young Muslims in Britain is still relatively low, it’s on the increase. In the face of this growing demand, there is a real need to develop the kind of mosque that sits comfortably within a democratic, secular, multi-faith Britain and which reflects the greater ownership young Muslims should feel over their local communities and country.

British-born and British-educated Muslims should take the lead on developing this. Imams are employees of the mosque and they are recruited and controlled by management committees, which are largely dominated by first-generation elders. Mosque religious leadership cannot be addressed without rethinking this. A whole wealth of ideas, energy and experience exists out there, particularly among women and young people, and these needs to be harnessed into reinvigorating mosque life.

Friday prayer sermons are mostly conducted in a language other than English; it is only the better-resourced mosques that can afford an imam who is proficient in English. Highly mobile though our society is, why should British-born Muslims who feel most comfortable speaking English, converts, or even someone like me who would just like to know more, have to travel outside their communities to larger urban centers for access to religious guidance, when one of Britain’s 1,200—1,600 mosques may well be on their doorstep? Young Muslim women suffer two-fold; many mosques, including some of the largest ones in Britain, have inadequate prayer facilities for women at best, or no facilities at all.

 Imams must balance the needs of all members of their congregation, of varying ages and both genders. An imam’s role already often extends beyond leading prayers to religious and counseling services, teaching in supplementary schools (madras’s) and leading study circles for young people. In short: a highly engaged, more pastoral role than is traditionally performed in the Indian subcontinent. In Britain, imams need to be able to understand and actively address everyday concerns, about both perceived and actual inequalities and discrimination, as well as the mainstream understanding of Islam in this country. They need to deal with issues inside Muslim communities like forced marriage, extremism and language barriers too, as well as concerns that affect all British citizens, ranging from social welfare, to British foreign policy and the credit crunch. Such a role requires a level of commitment to British values and a grasp of British political and social life that many imams simply don’t have, because most in Britain today were born and trained overseas.

Anas b. Malik R.A. reported: The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam came to Medina and stayed in the upper part of Medina for fourteen nights with a tribe called Banu 'Amr b 'Auf. He then sent for the chiefs of Banu al-Najir, and they came with swords around their necks. He (the narrator) said: I perceive as if I am seeing The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam on his ride with Abu Bakr behind him and the chiefs of Banu al-Najjar around him till he alighted in the courtyard of Abu Ayub. He (the narrator) said: The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said prayer when the time came for prayer, and he prayed in the fold of goats and sheep. He then ordered mosques to be built and sent for the chiefs of Banu al-Najir, and they came (to him). He The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said to them: O Banu al-Najjar, sell these lands of yours to me. They said: No, by Allah. We would not demand their price, but (reward) from the Lord. Anas said: There (in these lands) were trees and graves of the polytheists, and ruins. The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam ordered that the trees should be cut, and the graves should be dug out, and the ruins should be leveled. The trees (were thus) placed in rows towards the qibla and the stones were set on both sides of the door, and (while building the mosque) they (the Companions) sang rajaz verses along with the Messenger of Allah  The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam):

O Allah: there is no good but the good of the next world, so help the Ansars and the Muhajirin.

When Prophet  Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam arrived in Madinah from Makkah – an exploit called Hijra or migration -- the first and immediate task relating to the built environment, as well as to the community building process, that he embarked on fulfilling was building the city’s central mosque, also called the Prophet’s mosque.

Every other undertaking, including building houses for the migrants (muhajirs) who were practically homeless, had to be put off till after the Prophet’s mosques was completed. Herein too lays a clue as to the extreme importance of the mosque and the profundity of its message in Islam.

When the migrants arrived in Madinah, almost all of them were very destitute and virtually homeless. At the same time, furthermore, the aspiring community had no mosques or any other social institutions. While the first problem The Holy Muhammad Mustafa (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) was able to successfully manipulate and circumnavigate without really abandoning it and so causing any serious harm to the society, the latter predicament, however, could neither be disregarded, even for a short time, nor substituted with another feasible alternatives. Hence, the instituting of a principal mosque in Madinah needed the immediate attention. For the housing of the migrants, a workable alternative had to be found.

Action speaks louder then words my friend’s practice Islam the way of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) did.

 May Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) help us to do that which He loves and which pleases Him?

May Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) make our efforts sincere and keep us all on the straight path...........

Feel free to Share the information here with everyone you know

         P.S.: "Have fun praying don’t forget to make Dua for me...

 "To be continued"