The Role of the Mosque in Islam
?Dr. Nabil Hijazi
(NY State – November 2002)
(Dr. Hijazi had a PhD in Computer Science from Albany, NY., Dr. Hijazi passed away in Lebanon on March 12, 2023).
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God, being the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, has provided for all of our physical and spiritual needs. Not only are we continuously blessed with the air we breath, with the rain from which we drink and grow crops, and with the warmth of the sun that touches our skin and makes our planet habitable, but, throughout history, God in His Mercy has attended to our spiritual needs by sending Prophets and Messengers (peace be upon them) on missions of guidance so that we could know and worship Him and, thus, lead a righteous life.
One of the most important elements of worship is prayer. In Islam, “prayer” is a technical term which refers to a specific combination of physical actions and words that are supposed to mirror spiritual invocations and are carried out at specific times throughout the day. Such prayers are distinguished in form and requirements from the more general term “dua'a,” or supplication, which an individual can perform verbally or mentally, at all times and whether sitting, standing or lying down.
Islam's emphasis on a physical-spiritual prayer is but a reflection of its attempt to harmonize the material and spiritual dimensions of the individual and the society. Because prayer is a spiritually cleansing process, Islam requires that it be preceded by a physical cleansing of the body with ablution. Moreover, the spiritual invocations of Muslim prayer are, in fact, a summary of all possible invocations and are supposed to be mirrored in the actions of the body. As such, when a Muslim in prayer acknowledges the greatness of God in heart and words, his body is kneeling and prostrating in submissive action. In addition, all Muslims are required to face Mecca while praying in an act of symbolic unity.?Because man is a social being, Islam also emphasizes the role of the community even in worship. Communal prayer gatherings are considered to be more meritorious and, in a spirit of communal harmony, are necessarily synchronized.?
This harmonized integration of the different dimensions of an individual pervades the Islamic precepts that apply to all elements of a community and is seen in the role of the Masjid (or Mosque) in Islam. For a Muslim, the whole of nature is a temple of worship. The Messenger Muhammad (pbuh) is reported to have said: “The earth was placed for me as a masjid and a purifier.” The word “masjid” refers to a place of “sujud” (prostration), the most submissive of prayer actions. The word mosque is but a derivation or corruption of the word masjid. The Prophet is reported to have said: “wherever you pray, that place is a masjid.” Technically, therefore, any physically clean location can be designated a mosque.?
The mosque in Islam is not purely a communal worship space. Rather, it is the societal focal point that simultaneously combines the spiritual and the secular domains. During the time of the Messenger Muhammad, the mosque functioned as the socio-religious nerve center of the community as well as that of the government:?worship was conducted, teaching was carried out, judicial cases were tried and politics debated. As time passed, some of the earlier roles of the mosque, for example, the treasury, were passed on to more specialized institutions. However, the mosque continued to offer a wide range of services. For hundreds of years, the mosques were the universities of the Muslim world. The oldest continuously functioning university in the world, Al?Azhar mosque, founded in 970 C.E., is, as one westerner described, playing the role of Cambridge university, the Supreme Court, and the Vatican, combined.
Although all the earth is a masjid and the masjid combines mundane and spiritual elements, a place designated as a communal place of worship has certain etiquettes. Even as Jesus (pbuh) drove the traders from the temple, one may not buy or sell in the masjid. Furthermore, in the spirit of olfactory politeness, one should avoid strong foods such as garlic before coming to communal prayer; it is also a recommended practice that one perform a bath before coming for the Friday congregational prayer. Nevertheless, other actions, such as eating or even sleeping, which are not injurious to the functionality or harmonious atmosphere of the communal gathering, are permitted.
One of the most noticeable observations about a masjid to a non-Muslim is the complete lack of imagery within its confines. This is a direct result of the Muslim belief in the absolute transcendence of God and that it should in no way be compromised in the mind of the believer by any form of image, representation or allusion. As one of the ten commandments says: “thou shall not make any graven image of your Lord.”?Hence, while a Muslim may pray anywhere, even in places of worship of other faiths, he or she tries to avoid doing so in a room with statues or the like.?The absence of imagery within a masjid does not mean that mosques are devoid of aesthetics and symbolism. Many mosques are decorated with Islamic calligraphy and geometric patterns, the latter being highly symbolic of the universe as an expression of the Divine will and therefore extremely suitable for representation of the harmony of the material and the spiritual reflected in the mosque’s multiple roles. Furthermore, the lack of furniture, the emptiness of the space, and praying and sitting on the ground, are highly symbolic of our connection to the earth from which we are created as well as the lack of need for any intermediary in directing oneself to the Divine.?
Because of the special role that they played and continue to play, three mosques are accorded special status in Islam: the Masjid of the Kaaba built by Abraham and Ishmael (peace be upon them) in Mecca; the first mosque built in Islam — the Masjid of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in Medina; and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem which is located in a geographical area where many of the descendants of Abraham (from Isaac and Jacob to John the Baptist and Jesus (peace be upon them)) lived and taught. All three places are constant symbolic reminders of God's divine blessings to humanity.?
The only place which is designated as sacred in the strictest Islamic sense is the Masjid of the Kaaba (al-Masjid al-Haram). The Meccan area is a sanctuary for all living things year round — no plants, animals or humans may be harmed within its confines. The house of worship that Abraham built defines the Muslim's experience across time and space. During the five daily prayers, every Muslim in the world is required to pray in the direction of Mecca and, consequently, is being symbolically united across space —with every other Muslim in the world, and across time —with the divine revelation given to the previous prophets and messengers who are most exemplified by Abraham and his lineage, including Muhammad (peace be upon them all). In addition, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, which is an obligation that every able Muslim man and woman must perform once in his or her lifetime, brings this daily experience more into focus by allowing the pilgrim to experience all of the places and faces while simultaneously performing the worship rituals of Abraham and Ishmael.???
Islam emphasizes the fundamental importance of freedom of expression — in particular, freedom of belief:?“Let there be no compulsion in religion” (2:256). Hence, the Quran stresses the importance of preserving the sanctity of places of worship for non-Muslims, particularly those of Jews and Christians. The actions and statements of the Messenger Muhammad (pbuh) and his followers have reflected this vital principle. The Quran says:?“Had God not checked one people by means of another, then monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques, in which the name of God is mentioned in abundant measure would have been destroyed”(22:40). When an Abyssinian Christian delegation came to visit the Messenger Muhammad (pbuh), he provided lodging for them in his mosque and served them personally saying that he wanted to repay their kindness to his companions.?On another occasion, a visiting Christian delegation from the Arab tribe of Najran was permitted by the Prophet (pbuh) to conduct their prayer services?in his mosque.
These lessons were not lost on later Muslims. When the second Muslim Caliph (ruler) Omar ibn al-Khattab went to Jerusalem and was invited to tour the Church of the Resurrection by its priest, it happened that the time for the afternoon prayer arrived. Yet, despite the insistence of the priest, Omar declined to pray in the church because he did not want to give an excuse to future generations of Muslims to convert the church into a mosque on the grounds that he had prayed in it. Furthermore, during the reign of al-Waleed ibn abd al-Malik (705-715 C.E.), the great Omayyad Mosque in Damascus, then the capital of the Muslim empire, was divided into two halves: the Muslims prayed in one side, the Christians in the other.??
These are but a small number of examples of the importance of the mosque in Muslim life and a glimpse into the attitude of tolerance and respect that Islam encourages toward others.???