A Mosque for Allah

 

The Houses of Allah: Part 5

 

Alhamdulillah, Summa Alhamdulillah, I continue today my sermon on Mosques. Today I will talk about the donation of mosques and some important mosque rules which we should all bear in mind.

 

Donation of a Mosque

 

The Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “When a man dies, his actions come to an end except for three things: ‘Continuous Charity (Sadaqah Jariyah), knowledge which is beneficial, or a virtuous descendant who prays for him’.” (Muslim)

 

The greatest example of Sadaqah Jariyah is the construction of a Mosque in the name of the deceased, the reward of which he or she will get in the Hereafter.

 

Uthman ibn Affan (ra) reported: The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, “Whoever builds a mosque for Allah, Allah will build for him a house like it in Paradise.” (Bukhari, Muslim)

Service to the Mosque

 

The Houses of Allah: Part 4  

Service to the Mosque is an act of tremendous blessings. In a Hadith narrated by Hazrat Anas (ra), the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said that the blessings of all good deeds of the Ummah were presented to him, even the blessing of removing a speck of dust from the Mosque. (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi)

During the time of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), there lived an old Abyssinian lady who had made it her occupation to sweep and clean the Mosque. She died during the night time. The Sahaba buried her without informing the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). When he came to know about it, he was bewildered and made them understand that he should be informed whenever someone among the believers died and he went to the cemetery and prayed on her (i.e. either Duahs or the Janaza Prayer – as per different versions). (Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Majah)

 

Cleaning the Masjid is an honourable act. Even the elder Sahaba such as Hazrat Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab (ra) used to sweep and clean the Mosque. This blessed work should not be viewed with disdain and disgust as it is no ordinary menial work. For every speck or particle of dust removed from the Mosque, Allah rewards the one cleaning His House with great blessings.

Empathy in the Time of Racist Terror

In a world riven by bigotry and hatred, the people of New Zealand shows what solidarity and love can accomplish even in a moment of national tragedy like the recent Christchurch mosque attacks. Muslims constitute just over one percent of the country's population, yet Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern led the nation in reaching out to the stricken victims with spontaneous compassion. Religious leaders of different faiths- Christian, Jewish, Sikh, etc- came out in iridescent solidarity with the Muslim community, and attended joint prayers in mosques. Stu Cameron, Minister of New-life Church on the Gold Coast, said: "Good neighbours always weep when the other is weeping, and stand together in solidarity when the other feels threatened".  Attending a  prayer meeting at a mosque with her head covered with a black dupatta, New Zealand Prime Minister Ardern quoted Prophet Muhammad (sa). "According to Prophet Muhammad...the believers in their mutual kindness, compassion, and sympathy are just like one body. When any part of the body suffers, the whole body feels pain" she said. "New Zealand mourns with you; we are one". Earlier too, when Ms. Ardern visited the mourning families to comfort them, she covered her head to show respect to the people's traditions. As she embraced them, her face mirrored their pain, making plain to those who had lost their dear ones in the shootings that she shared their suffering. 

The Christchurch Mosque Attacks

Calamities abound in our small world, and not a day goes by, without the media  chronicling the many disasters striking around: cyclonic storms, devastating floods; forest fires, landslides, earthquakes, Tsunamis, etc.  Even more despairing is the case of the many man-made disasters afflicting humanity: religious extremism; political fanaticism; racism; intolerance and oppression of minority groups; national chauvinism and xenophobia; political repression and terrorism; genocidal violence; civic strife and internal wars, etc. Indeed, all the Signs of our times testify to the many troubles engulfing our planet. In his Friday Sermon of 22 March 2019~14 Rajab 1440 AH Imam- Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam Hadhrat Muhyi-ud-Din Al Khalifatullah Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) continues the reflective series on Islam and international terrorism today. 

Speaking against the backdrop of the recent massacre at Christchurch/New Zealand where a white terrorist went on a rampage with semi-automatic weapons in two mosques, killing 50 Muslim devotees attending Jumu'ah prayers, Hadhrat Khalifatullah (atba) underscores the importance of prayer, peace, love and dialogue to restore the world on an even keel. 

Ahmadi Mosques under Attack

HATE CRIME AGAINST ISLAM

We all know what happened on 13 November 2015 in Paris (France) after extremists opened fire on people, out of whom 129 died and more than 350 injured. After that incident, there have been other attacks and last month itself in the USA, some hours after the Paris Attacks, some people opened fire on an Ahmadi Mosque in Meriden, Connecticut, the “Baitul Aman”. By the grace of Allah, there were no victims. But these attacks on mosques, be it those of Ahmadiyya or other mosques and Islamic centres, be it in America or elsewhere in the world, are becoming all the more frequent, especially because of the vendetta/ revenge which people are extracting against Islam. According to them, it is Islam and its teachings which are to be blamed!

Worst, nowadays in America there are some stupid people who are standing as presidential candidates of the USA, for example, Donald Trump, a Republican who has seized the opportunity of the Paris Attacks to make his political campaign against Islam whereby he has proposed that if the Americans vote him, he shall make it a must to spy on the Muslims and bar entry of Muslims in the USA. His hate speech against Islam and the Muslims has brought shame to his own political party. His own people have fallen on him for what he said for America is for the freedom of religion, people and liberty of expression. I warn him, and all those like him, that if he does not desist from his words and realise his error, if he continues in his hate speeches against Islam and Muslims, therefore Allah shall seize him in a severe punishment and humiliation. It is Allah who shall deal with him, because terrorism has no religion.