3.1.2 The Mosque

In a discussion on prayer, it is necessary to speak of the mosque. The Arabic word for mosque is masjid, which means a place where one prostrates oneself, or a place of worship. It should be borne in mind, in the first place, that prayer can be performed anywhere. No particularly consecrated place is necessary for the holding of the Divine service. To this effect there is an express saying of the Holy Prophet, who, speaking of some of his peculiarities, is reported to have said: “The whole of the earth has been made a mosque for me” (Bu. 8:56). A Muslim may, therefore, say his prayers anywhere he likes. The mere fact that he does so elsewhere than in a mosque detracts in no way from the efficacy of the prayer; nor does a building when constructed for the express purpose of prayer stand in need of consecration. All that is required is that the builder should declare his intention to have that building used as a place of prayer.

But, in spite of what has been stated above, the mosque plays a more important part in Islam than does any other house of worship in any other religion. Where the Holy Qur’an speaks of the Muslim’s duty to defend and protect all houses of worship, to whatever religion they may belong, it speaks, of the mosque last of all, but it mentions its distinctive characteristic, namely that the name of God is remembered there most of all: “And if Allah did not repel some people by others, cloisters, and churches, and synagogues, and mosques in which Allah’s name is much remembered, would have been pulled down” (22:40). The concluding words of the verse — mosques in which Allah’s name is much remembered — are significant. All religious buildings are resorted to generally once a week, but the mosque is visited five times a day for the remembrance of God’s name. In fact, if any house on earth can be called God’s house, on account of its association with the Divine name, that house is the mosque which pre-eminently deserves the name, all other religious houses seem neglected in comparison with it. The whole atmosphere of the mosque is charged with the electricity of the Divine name; there is the call to prayer five times a day, which rends the air with cries of the greatness and unity of God—Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar and la ilaha ill-Allah; there is the individual service, carried on in silence, but with God’s name on the lips of every individual worshipper; there is the public service in which the Imam recites aloud portions of the Holy Qur’an, that tell of Divine grandeur and glory, with the refrain of Allahu Akbar repeated at every change of movement; and when the prayer is finished, there is again a chorus of voices speaking of Divine greatness, making the mosque echo and re-echo with the remembrance of God. It is true God does not dwell in the mosque, but surely one feels His presence there. It will thus be seen that the mosque is the centre of Muslim religious life. It is not a place to which a man may resort once a week to be inspired with a spiritual idea, which he will in all likelihood forget during the six days to follow; it is a place which sends forth, as it were, the blood of spiritual life, hour after hour, into the veins of the Muslim, and thus keeps his mind imbued with higher thoughts, and his heart alive in a real sense.

Being a meeting-place of Muslims five times daily, the mosque serves as a training ground where the doctrine of the equality and fraternity of mankind is put into practical working. It is undoubtedly true that every religion is based on the two fundamental principles of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, but it is equally true that no religion has been so successful in establishing a living brotherhood of man as has Islam, and the secret of this unparalleled success lies in the mosque. The mosque enables Muslims to meet five times a day, on terms of perfect equality and in a spirit of true brotherhood, all standing in a row before their great Maker, knowing no difference of colour or rank, all following the lead of one man. All differences and distinctions are, for the time being, obliterated. Without the mosque, the mere teaching of the brotherhood of man would have remained a dead letter as it is in so many other religions.

Besides being its religious centre, the mosque is also the cultural centre of the Muslim community. Here the Muslim community is educated on all questions of its welfare. The Friday sermon is a regular weekly lecture on all such questions, but, besides that, whenever in the time of the Holy Prophet and his early successors it became necessary to inform the Muslim community on any matter of importance, a sermon or a lecture was delivered in the mosque. Even during his last illness the Holy Prophet came out into the mosque and delivered a sermon to the people.

In addition to this mass education in the Prophet’s Mosque, there were also arrangements for the education of those who wanted to acquire learning. Men who had to be trained as missionaries for the spread of light and learning in distant parts of the country not only received their education in the mosque but also lodged in a place, called the Suffa, attached to the mosque. The Suffa was situated in the northern part of the mosque, covered with a roof but with open sides, from which those students received the name of ahl al-Suffa or ashab al-Suffa, i.e., the dwellers of the Suffa. It is a mistake to think that homeless people were lodged in it, for among those mentioned as having lived there are men like Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas, while there were many poor immigrants who never lived there. The fact is that those who wanted to acquire knowledge of the Holy Qur’an and the religion of Islam were lodged there, and their number is said to have reached four hundred at times. It was out of these that missionaries were sent sometimes in batches of ten or twelve, and once, even in a batch of seventy, to educate the people in the country. Almost every mosque to this day has to some extent, arrangements for the education of students, the maktab or the madrasah (the school), being a necessary adjunct to the mosque. Many important mosques have also some trust property attached to them, their income going towards the upkeep of the students and their teachers. In later times, libraries, some of them very large, were also kept in parts of the mosque.

But this is not all. In the time of the Holy Prophet and his early successors, the mosque was the centre of all kinds of Muslim activities. Here all important national questions were settled. When the Muslim community was forced to take up arms in self-defence, it was in the mosque that measures of defence and expeditions were concerted. It was, again, to the mosque that the people were asked to repair when there was news of importance to be communicated, and the mosque also served as the council hall of the Muslims. In the time of ‘Umar, when two councils were appointed to advise the Caliph, it was in the mosque that these councils met. Deputations from Muslim as well as non-Muslim tribes were received in the mosque, and some of the more important deputations were also lodged there, as in the case of the famous Christian deputation from Najran, and the deputation of Thaqif, a polytheist tribe; and for this purpose tents were set up in the yard of the mosque. Indeed, once on the occasion of a festival, the Holy Prophet even allowed certain Abyssinians to give a display with shield and lance in the mosque (Bu. 8:69). Hassan ibn Thabit used to recite in the mosque his verses in defence of the Holy Prophet against the abuse of his enemies (Bu. 8:68). Juridical affairs were also settled in the mosque (Bu. 8:44; 93:18), and it was used in a number of other ways. For example, a tent was set up for Sa‘d ibn Mu‘adh in the yard of the mosque when he received fatal wounds in the battle of the Ditch (Bu. 8:77), and it was in this tent that he died. A freed handmaid had also a tent in the mosque where she resided (Bu. 8:57). The mosque was thus not only the spiritual centre of the Muslims but also their political, educational and social centre. It was, indeed, their national centre in the truest and most comprehensive sense of the word.

The fact, however, that the mosque may be used for objects other than the saying of prayer, does not in any way detract from its sacred character. It is primarily a place for Divine worship and must be treated as such. Nor are any proceedings allowed in the mosque, except such as related to the welfare of the Muslim community or have a national importance. The carrying on of any business or trade in the mosque is expressly forbidden (AD. 2:216). Due respect must be shown to the house of God; thus even the raising of loud voices is denounced (Bu. 8:83), and spitting is expressly prohibited (Bu. 8:37). Saying prayers, with the shoes on, is permitted (Bu. 8:24), but the shoes must be clean and not dirty. The practice has, however, grown of removing the shoes at the door of the mosque as a mark of respect to the mosque and to ensure cleanliness. Keeping the mosque clean and neat is an act of great merit. (Bu. 8:72).

The Ka‘bah, or the Sacred Mosque of Makkah, is, according to the Holy Qur’an, the first house for the worship of God that was ever built on this earth: “Certainly the first house appointed for men is the one at Bakkah, blessed, and a guidance for nations” (3:96). An account of its building by Abraham and Ishmael is given in the Holy Qur’an in 2:127, but that it was only a reconstruction of a fallen building is shown by 2:125, where the purification of the house of idols that had been placed in it is mentioned before its construction in 2:127. Even Muir ascribes “an extremely remote age” to the Ka‘bah. The Ka‘bah, being thus the first mosque on earth, all mosques are built to face it. This practice is based on an express injunction contained in the Holy Qur’an. The first injunction relating thereto appears in connection with Abraham: “And when We made the House (the Ka‘bah), a resort for men and a place of security; and take ye the Place of Abraham (the Ka‘bah) for a place of prayer” (2:125). And, further on, more expressly: “And from whatsoever place thou comest forth, turn thy face towards the Sacred Mosque; And wherever you are, turn your faces towards it” (2:150). This order that all places of worship should converge towards the Ka‘bah had an underlying purpose which is hinted at in the Holy Qur’an in connection with the subject of the Qiblah, “And everyone has a goal to which he turns (himself), therefore vie with one another in good works; wherever you are, Allah will bring you all together” (2:148). The bringing of all together clearly means the making of all as one people, so that beneath the ostensible unity of direction lies the real unity of purpose. Just as they have all one centre to turn to, they must set one goal before themselves. Thus the unity of the Qiblah among Muslims stands for their unity of purpose, and forms the basis on which rests the brotherhood of Islam. Hence the Holy Prophet’s saying: “Do not call those who follow your Qiblah (ahl Qiblah) disbelievers (kafir)” (N. art. Kufr).

The only requirement of the law of Islam regarding the building of a mosque is that it should face the Ka‘bah. Hadith, however, further recommends that the building should be as simple as possible. All adornments are generally avoided, in accordance with a saying of the Holy Prophet: “I have not been commanded to raise the mosques high” (AD. 2:11). To this Ibn ‘Abbas adds: “You will surely adorn them as the Jews and the Christians adorn (their places of worship).” According to another hadith, the Holy Prophet is reported to have said: “The hour of doom (al-sa‘ah) will not come till people vie with one another in (the building of) mosques” (AD. 2:11). The mosque built by the Holy Prophet himself at Madinah, called the Prophet’s Mosque, was a simple structure in a vast courtyard in which tents could be pitched in time of need. The building was made of bricks baked in the sun, and the roofed portion, resting on columns consisting of the stems of palm-trees was covered with palm leaves and clay. Both Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, the first and second Caliphs, rebuilt it with the same material, though the latter extended it considerably (AD. 2:11). The great mosques of Islam erected in the time of ‘Umar in Basrah, Kufah and Fustat, the new towns built by the Muslims, or in old towns such as Mada’in, Damascus and Jerusalem, were all simple structures like the Prophet’s Mosque at Madinah built either of reeds or bricks baked in the sun, with vast courtyards, large enough to accommodate congregations of even 40,000 men, the floors being generally strewn with pebbles. These mosques were built by the Government and had the Government House attached to them, the Governors themselves leading the prayers. Quite in accordance with the simplicity of their structure, the mosques were unfurnished except for mats or carpets and a pulpit from which the sermon was delivered on Fridays. ‘Uthman, the third Caliph, rebuilt the Prophet’s Mosque at Madinah with hewn stone and mortar (AD. 2:11). The custom of building mosques with domes and having one or more minarets grew up later, but even these are, notwithstanding their grandeur, monuments of simplicity, their chief adornment being the writing on their walls, in mosaic, of verses from the Holy Qur’an.

Every Muslim is free to build a mosque, and so people living in different quarters of a town may build mosques for themselves. Abu Bakr had erected a mosque in the courtyard of his house while still at Makkah at a very early period (Bu. 46:22). Another Companion, ‘Itban ibn Malik, once invited the Holy Prophet to say prayers in a particular part of his house which he might use as a mosque, since he was unable to reach the mosque of his people in the rainy season (Bu. 8:46). A mosque was built at Quba, in the suburbs of Madinah, for the people of that locality, the tribe of ‘Amr ibn ‘Auf, and the Holy Prophet used to visit it once a week (Bu. 20:2). Another mosque at Madinah is spoken of as the mosque of Bani Zuraiq (Bu. 8:41). And Bukhari has the following heading for this chapter: “Can a mosque be called the ‘mosque of so and so?’ “Thus a name may be given to any mosque, either that of the founder or of the people who resort to it, or any other name. In later times, Muslims belonging to different sects had their own mosques, the Ka‘bah, the Central Mosque, gathering all together at the time of Pilgrimage. But when a mosque has once been built it is open to Muslims of all persuasions and no one has the right to prohibit Muslims of a certain persuasion or sect from entering it. This is a point on which the Holy Qur’an contains a clear injunction: “And who is more unjust than he who prevents (men) from the mosques of Allah, from His name being remembered in them, and strives to ruin them?” (2:114).

The custom of pardah in certain countries of the Muslim world raises the question as to whether women may go to the mosques. There was no such question in the Holy Prophet’s time, when women freely took part in religious services. There is indeed a hadith which tells us that on a certain night the Holy Prophet was very late in coming out to lead the night prayers, when the people had assembled in the mosque; and he came only on hearing ‘Umar call out, “The women and the children are going to sleep” (Bu. 9:22). This shows that women were in the mosque even at such a late hour. According to another hadith narrated by ‘Aishah, women used to be present at the morning prayer, which was said at an hour so early that they returned to their houses while it was still dark (Bu. 8:13). Yet another hadith shows that even women who had children to suckle would come to the mosque, and that when the Holy Prophet heard a baby crying, he would shorten his prayer lest the mother should feel inconvenience (Bu. 10:65); while in one hadith it is stated that when the Holy Prophet had finished his prayers, he used to stay a little and did not rise until the women had left the mosque (Bu. 10:152). All these hadith afford overwhelming evidence of the fact that women, just in the same way as men, used to frequent the mosques and that there was not the least restriction in this matter. There are other hadith which show that the Holy Prophet had given orders not to prohibit women from going to the mosque. For instance, there is one which quotes the Holy Prophet as saying: “Do not prohibit the handmaids of Allah from going to the mosques of Allah” (Bu. 11:12). According to another, the Holy Prophet is reported to have said that, if a woman wanted to go to the mosque at night, she should not be prohibited from doing so (Bu. 10:162). The words of a third hadith are more general: “When the wife of one of you asks permission to go out, she should not be prohibited from doing so” (Bu. 10:166). There was an express injunction that on the occasion of the ‘IId festival women should go out to the place where prayers were said; even women in a state of menstruation were to be present, though they would not join the prayers (Bu. 13:15, 20). The practice for women to be present in the mosques at the time of prayer seems to have continued long enough after the Holy Prophet’s time. Within the mosque they were not separated from men by any screen or curtain; only they formed into a line behind the men (Bu. 10:164); and though they were covered decently with an over-garment, they did not wear a veil. On the occasion of the great gathering of the Pilgrimage a woman is expressly forbidden to wear a veil (Bu. 25:23). Many other hadith show that women formed themselves into a back row and that the men retained their seats until they had gone out of the mosque (Bu. 10:164). This practice seems to have existed for a very long time. Thus we read of women calling out Allahu Akbar along with men in the mosque during the three days following ‘Id al-Adzha as late as the time of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, the Umayyad Caliph, who ruled about the end of the first century A.H. (Bu. 13:12). In the year 256 A.H., the Governor of Makkah is said to have tied ropes between the columns to make a separate place for women (En. Is., art. Masjid). Later on, the practice grew up of erecting a wooden barrier in the mosque to form a separate enclosure for women, but by and by the pardah conception grew so strong that women were altogether shut out from the mosques.

Another question connected with this subject relates to the entrance of women into mosques during their menstruation. It must be borne in mind, in the first place that in Islam a state of menstruation or confinement is not looked upon as a state of impurity, as in many other religions. All that the Holy Qur’an says about menstruation is that conjugal relations should be discontinued during the state of menstruation: “And they ask thee about menstruation. Say: It is harmful; so keep aloof from women during the menstrual discharge” (2:222). According to Hadith, a woman is exempted from saying her prayers, or keeping the fast, as long as menstruation lasts. As regards pilgrimage, she may perform all obligations except tawaf (making the circuits of the Ka‘bah), but there is no idea of impurity attaching to her in this condition. There is a very large number of hadith showing that all kinds of social relations with women in this condition were permitted, that the husband and wife could occupy the same bed, that the Holy Prophet used to recite the Holy Qur’an when sitting in close contact with his wife who had her courses on, and that a woman in this condition was allowed to handle the Holy Qur’an (Bu. 6:2, 3, 5, 6, 7). There is, however, a hadith from which the conclusion is drawn that a woman should not enter the mosque during the menstrual discharge, but evidently there is some misunderstanding here, for if she could handle the Holy Qur’an why could she not enter the mosque? The hadith runs thus: “‘A’ishah says that the Holy Prophet said to her, Hand me over the mat from the mosque. I said I am in a state of menstruation. The Holy Prophet said, Thy menstruation is not in thy hands” (AD. 1:104). Apparently the Holy Prophet wanted a mat which was in the mosque and he asked ‘A’ishah to hand it over to him. Now the general opinion concerning a menstruating woman, before Islam, was that she was defiled, and ‘A’ishah’s reply seems to have been given under that impression. The Holy Prophet’s reply, on the other hand, clearly shows this conception to have been a mistaken one, and that menstruation did not defile a woman; it was quite a different thing that she was required to abstain from saying her prayers when in that state. There is, however, another hadith which represents the Holy Prophet as saying: “I do not make the mosque lawful for a menstruating woman or for a person who is under an obligation to perform a total ablution” (AD. 1:93). But this hadith has been called weak and cannot therefore be relied on. Or, the mosque here simply represents the prayer service from which such persons are exempted. As the hadith quoted earlier show, there is not the least idea of defilement in a menstruating woman. Similarly there are hadith showing that what a menstruating woman touches with her mouth is not defiled (AD. 1:103). Even the very clothes which she wears need not be washed if they are not actually defiled (Bu. 6:11). The hadith mentioned above is therefore no bar against a woman’s entrance into the mosque when she is menstruating, but as she is to abstain from prayer, she has no need to go there.

Every mosque will ordinarily have a Mutawalli (lit., guardian), who is charged with its management by those who have built it. The mutawalli has the right to appoint the Imam, or the man who leads the prayers, but he has no right to prohibit Muslims, on account of sectarian differences, from entering the mosque. Every mosque has also generally a mu’adh-dhin who gives the call for prayers. The mu’adhdhin may also look after the mosque. But the most important man in the mosque is the Imam , the man who leads the prayers and delivers the sermon (khutbah) on Friday. The honour of leading the prayers was, in the time of the Holy Prophet, and also for a long time after that, given to the best man in the community. Bukhari has the following heading for one of his chapters: “Those who are well-grounded in knowledge and possess the greatest excellence are most entitled to lead prayer” (Bu. 10:46). Under this heading, he quotes a hadith in which it is narrated that when the Holy Prophet was on his death-bed, he appointed Abu Bakr to lead the prayers in his place, and when he was requested to appoint ‘Umar instead, as Abu Bakr was too tender-hearted, he refused to do so. Abu Dawud narrates sayings of the Holy Prophet requiring the honour of leading the prayer to be conferred on the man who was most learned in the Holy Qur’an, or in a case where two men were equal in that respect, other considerations were to be applied. The Holy Prophet himself was the Imam in the central mosque at Madinah and, after him, his successors, the respective caliphs, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthman. When a governor was appointed to a province, he was also appointed as Imam to lead the prayers, and this practice continued for a long time. In fact, the honour of leading the prayers (imamat) in Islam was as great as the honour of kingship, and the two offices, the office of the spiritual leader and that of the temporal leader, were combined in one person for a long time. As the ruler himself was the Imam at the centre, so were his governors the Imams in the different provincial headquarters. The priest and the present-day mulla had no place in early Islam. Nor does the Imam, like the mosque, stand in need of consecration, because everyone is consecrated by entering into the fold of Islam. Anyone can lead the prayers in the absence of the Imam, and anyone may act as Imam when several people are gathered together. The present practice of having paid Imams, whose only duty is to lead the prayers, is to a very large extent responsible for the degeneration of the Muslims. These people have generally no sense of the dignity of Islam and its institutions, nor have they the light, learning and general experience which should entitle them to claim to lead the Muslims spiritually. A woman is also spoken of as acting as an Imam, while men followed her, though it was in her own house (AD. 2:60).