Monday, 4 June 2012

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

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