Islam for Muslims
- THE FAITH OF MUSLIMS
- GOOD DEEDS IN PERSONAL LIFE
- GOOD DEEDS IN SOCIAL LIFE
The Roles of Mosques & Muslims
40: THE ROLES OF THE MOSQUE & MUSLIMS
Introduction: Mosque as a Multi-Purpose Unit: The mosque not only meets the space requirements for prayer, but it also can be used as a nerve center for various other Islamic and welfare-oriented programs. The Quranic statement that “the places of worship (mosque) are only for God” (72:18) broadly suggests that these facilities can house, well beyond prayers, all types of activities that have some ties with the pleasure of God. Look at how the Prophet did use his mosque compound as a multiplex of social programs. It was used for prayer service, Islamic sermon, Quran teaching school, funeral service, Ramadan dinner, travelers’ inn, guest reception, charity distribution, matrimonial service, treatment for wounded warriors, sharia court trial, space sharing for non-Muslim worship, meeting place for government consultative body and the like.
In keeping with the Prophet’s tradition, the mosques of today can also be used for furthering the goals of Islam and Muslims. Nevertheless, restrictions may apply to conducting personal activities that pose risk of impurity or noise pollution etc. Regardful of these, you can make the mosque a center for performing various community services the above way, preferably at a suitable place (at its extension or balcony) and desirable time (beyond Jamat). Some potential roles of a mosque are outlined below:
(1) Purposeful Unity: The brotherhood and friendship inspired among the Muslims through prayer congregations at the mosque can be used for noble purposes. As believers, you are expected to regularly “visit (for prayer) and maintain the mosques of God” (9:18). You should get deeply involved with various programs preferably carried out in the name of mosque committee or Muslim association etc. You can use your collective strength for both promotional purposes like organizing Islamic seminars etc. and preventive roles e.g. protesting brutality of an ethnic minority. You can thus cement your valued unity through “your movements among those who prostrate themselves” (26:219).
(2) Social Services: The mosque can be a nerve center for a wide variety of programs in the service of people. Money can be raised for any immediate need like burying the deceased among the poor. Benevolent projects may also be put in place to ease sufferings of the distressed. Examples include maintaining a First Aid box under care of Imam or operating a dispensary managed by any physician member of the mosque committee for free treatment of the poor. If you are an Imam, you can fill up your spare time by delivering marriage brokering and administering services at little or no charges. Lost and Found Services is another way to help people. Similarly, mosque can house trials for Islamic violations like improper divorce practices or maldistribution of inheritance etc.
(3) Rules for Attendance at Programs: The Quran outlines the code of conduct for those who attend Islamic programs at the mosque. During such gathering, your behavior should meet the standard for “sanctifying” the house of God from partnership sins and “raising (it) to honor for celebration of His name therein” (22:26; 24:36). To that end, you must maintain discipline by abstaining from any type of disruptive behavior like “whistling and clapping hands” (8:35), talking over cell phone or indecently pushing your way to the front etc. At the assemblies, you should “make room” for others if you are told to do so and for that you will be rewarded with “(ample) space” in the Hereafter (58:11). For space management, if you are told to “rise up”, you should be compliant as God “will also raise your ranks” for that (58:11). At any serious discussion “requiring collective action”, you cannot “depart” without obtaining permission from your leader who can relieve you only on ground of your “some (necessary) business” (24:62). During sermon, you need to be a good listener by avoiding disruptive talking or action and at any purposeful gathering, you should contribute your best ideas, if sought.
(A) Roles of Mosque Imam:
(1) Consultancy Services: The prayer leader Imam is “entrusted with the protection of God’s Book” Quran (5:44). As a source of knowledge, you (Imams) are “in duty bound” to make your time easily available for providing consultancy and other services to those who “seek aid in religion” through your knowledge and otherwise (8:72). An efficient handling of this consultative service, however, requires you to refresh knowledge “by devoting (yourself) to studies in religion” (9:122). Particularly you need to be prepared with complex questions relating to marriage and divorce rules, Islamic inheritance laws, modern issues etc. It is important that you cannot be “unmindful of” or “frown on” someone who “earnestly” comes to learn Islam with possibility that “he might receive admonition” and benefit from (your) “teaching” (80:10/1/8/4). In general, as Imam you will equally welcome and well treat all classes of people alike: the rich and the poor, the whites and the blacks and so on. You cannot discriminate among them or “turn away” any of them in order to be “(one) of the unjust” (6:52).
(2) Promoting Islamic Education: As a religious leader, you should run a regular school at mosque compound, preferably after morning prayers or during weekends, for training children in reading of the Quran and learning the basics of Islam. You can hold regular sessions for the adults, dedicated to interpreting Quran, discussing and answering questions on Islamic matters, at a pre-decided time preferably during free time after Isha prayer. Periodically, you can also organize courses on correct methods of prayer and other obligations particularly for the new converts. Relatively larger audience during Friday prayer offers you a golden opportunity for delivering a well-prepared sermon along with analysis. As a self-teaching strategy for the educated members, your mosque complex may have a built-in Islamic library where you may be acting as a librarian.
(3) Imam’s Qualifications Matter: Translating the above potentials into reality depends heavily on the quality the Imam. In order to be considered for this office, 3 qualifications are necessary in following priority order: (i) ability to recite the Quran accurately (ii) knowledge about the rules of prayers and (iii) intense piety. You cannot subordinate these criteria to anything else like old age, gray beard, flowing robe etc. Side by side, Imam’s modern education, progressive outlook, leadership quality, organizing skills would be extremely helpful. His character and personality should meet the standard necessary not only for leading the Muslims inside mosque during prayer, but also guiding them outside for promotion of Islam. As regards his compensation, God rules, “let him claim no remuneration (if he is solvent), but if he is poor, let him take for himself (as salary) whatever is just and reasonable” (4:6), keeping in mind that the less you take now, the more you will get later in the Hereafter.
If such an all-square Imam is hard to come by, you should pick the best one from the list of available candidates. Once appointed, such Imam deserves support and cooperation from the locally influential Muslims often representing the mosque committee. They cannot consider him as their employee in order to give him hard time and in case of his any mistake, they should privately and respectfully advise him.
Muslim Scholars & Activists:
(1) Vanguard of Islam: The Imam is a key player but he may not be the only one in the active roles for promoting Islam. There may be many Muslim scholars or activists around mosque who are expected to run the affairs of mosque in coordination with the Imam. As scholars, you might have learnt about Islam either through formal education or independent studies and as activists, you may work for Islam either through some organization(s) (to be more effective for united strength) or you may act individually but with sincere intention. In both cases, you may have legitimacy to “maintain” the mosque by fulfilling requirements of having “Faith in God and Afterlife”, being regular practitioner of “salat and charity” and “fearing none but God” (9:18).
(2) Promotion of Virtues & Prevention of Vices: You are on God’s mission of “enjoining the Right (promotion of virtues) and forbidding the Wrong (prevention of vices)” (22:41), acting as a proxy for prophetic assignment in today’s non-prophetic era. Your Islamic knowledge consequent upon your “devotion to studies in religion” obligates you to “warn the people” from ongoing evils of the society (9:122). God condemned it as “evil works” when the religious scholars failed to forbid people from “uttering sinful words and eating banned food” among other social sins (5:63). In this respect, you may draw inspiration from exemplary lives of the medieval jurists (Imams) like Hanifa, Malik, Shafi, Hanbali etc. who were “fearful not of any men but only of (God)” (5:44).
(3) Islamic Awareness Campaign: As Islamic scholars, you can make positive contributions to Islam by sharing your knowledge on what is right and wrong basing on the Quran and Hadith. In order to reach out to the maximum number of people at minimum period of time, you could and should use all kinds of available and suitable mass media, methods, equipments etc. These may include but are not limited to: newspaper, magazine, conferences, seminars, symposiums, workshops, gallery walks, lectures, debates, dialogues, rallies, websites, webinar, Facebook, LinkedIn, twitter, Instagram, YouTube, projectors, slides, television, films, graphic arts, and other audio-video devices or anything good that might be coming up in the future.
(4) Coordinated Approach: In order to avoid duplications and cater to the local needs of audience, you may belong to a central association for coordination for year-round and cross-country programs. This central body will not only do research on assessing local needs for propagation but may also dispatch dawah teams to the areas short on Islamic knowledge and motivation. For example, teams (combining preaching with charity program) can be sent to crime-prone slum community who cannot be neglected only because of their poverty.
(5) Mosque Building Projects: In view of the pivotal roles of mosque, Muslim leaders should chalk out a plan to “build a place of worship (mosque)” (18:21) in such numbers and at such distances that the Muslims in general do not have too much hardship to reach a mosque and get a space therein. The women with Islamic dress code should also be allowed space in a separate section of the facility. If, in this way, more people can be brought under influence of mosques, the Muslim society may transform into an Islamic society.
You should, therefore, generously spend for mosque building projects, as that will be a source of your blessings that will last for the life of the mosque. Mindful of that, the Prophet himself volunteered labor for carrying materials for building his mosque at Medina. One caution must be sounded at this point. The mosque is the “place of worship for God” and it is for those “men who love to be purified” (72:18; 9:108). You must build it basing on “piety (for His satisfaction) from day one” and “swearing (only your) good intention” (9:108; 9:107). You cannot build it for the purpose of committing any “profanity or wrongdoing” (22:25), “mischief and infidelity”, “or to “disunite the believers” (9:107) such as building mosques next to one another out of malice or jealousy. Since mosque has been “made for all men, where (local) residents and visitors are all equal”, you cannot drive any Muslim out without risking “grievous penalty” (22:25).
(C) Spiritual Guides (Saint or Pir): Apart from the freelance Islamic scholars, there are many spiritual guides known as saint, pir, sufi etc. They operate in many parts of the Muslim world particularly Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East who aim to cultivate Islam within the confines of their following. Historically, they showed a measure of success in winning over converts by inspiring spiritual guidance. However, presently they appear to maintain a diminished presence and perform with a mixed record.
Positives: On the positive side, they have the power to attract people and sometimes they enjoy huge following, thanks in part to their charisma, knowledge or healing services etc. They can turn this advantage of leadership into valuable service to Islam by guiding their followers to the right path through their gift of knowledge and hands-on training on the essentials like prayer, fasting, etc.
Negatives: The real life, however, is not that simple and ideal. More often you may see that the negatives of many spiritual guides outweigh their positives as they engage in many un-Islamic practices in the name of Islam or guidance. Such a wrong guide may misguide you farther from Islam and bring you more harms than helps. It is therefore pivotal that if you choose to follow a particular spiritual guide, you need to pick a genuine one based on the following criteria.
Criteria of a Good Spiritual Guide/Saint:
(1) Sharia Compliance: A guide cannot take a break from the practices of the Five Pillars and other basics of Islam. Nor can he grant any certificate of exemption from the rules of Sharia to his disciples in return for monetary benefits or taking part in his so-called spiritual courses like meditation, etc. This was exactly what was condemned by the verse “priests and hermits falsely devour the substance of people (e.g. illegal gifts) and hinder (them) from God’s religion” (9:34). A saint will disqualify as a good one if he cannot brush aside his ego for becoming a part of Juma congregation led by a local Imam, as an example. He should not overburden his people by imposing his personal brand of recitation package, far in excess of their ability (e.g. reciting particular verses or sentences many thousands of time).
(2) Avoiding Un-Islamic Cultures: A guide must not engage in any sinful actions like faking unification with God through spirituality, making false claim to miraculous powers like fortune telling, giving fertility to a woman etc. particularly by sleeping with her, having his feet washed or serviced by disciples, selling verses for a “miserable gain” (3:199), making money in exchange for services, group dancing etc. Likewise, he should not introduce any new practices (‘bidat’) contrary to God’s advice like by uttering God’s names (zikr) with “loudness in words” (7:205) or excessive body movement.
(3) Provision against Partnership Sins: A saint cannot allow his ignorant followers to consider himself a “lord in derogation of God” (9:31). Accordingly, he cannot enjoy the sweet flavor of being worshipped or venerated (through prostration, bowing of head, kissing of feet etc.) during his lifetime or thereafter. He should not forget to forewarn his followers from worshipping his grave after death, to match the example of the Prophet.
(4) Avoid hypocrisy in Practices: He should not show any abnormal behavior like shunning social life, avoiding marriage, wearing colored or tattered clothes, keeping matted locks of hair, sitting on a high throne etc. for faking an image of specialty or pretending a higher level of spirituality. Such practices were ruled out by the Quran and/or Hadith of the Prophet who always acted like a normal social being.
Is Sainthood Unavoidable? The proponents of sainthood often invent the idea that adopting a saint is mandatory for gaining nearness to God. They wrongly base this claim on the verse “seek the means of nearness to Him” as a clear case of misapplication of the verse (5:35). Because nowhere in the Quran or Hadith, sainthood is specified as such ‘means of nearness’. Instead, God rejects your adoption of “protectors” to “bring us closer to God”, saying He does not “know” anything like “intermediary with Him” (39:3; 10:18). In fact, nearness to God can be achieved by practicing any of the countless good deeds which may or may not include adoption of saints but never the misguided ones.
In reality, it will not be easy to find a right kind of spiritual guide who can satisfy the above criteria. The safest alternative would therefore be an independent approach of gaining knowledge directly from the Quran and Hadith and practicing ideals from the life of the Prophet who is the best spiritual leader ever for linking with God.
Conclusion: It therefore appears that the mosque and the righteous Muslim leaders can play pivotal roles in guiding the Muslims along the right path, for the cause of Islam.