W
hether in Ramadan or outside it, Mosque in Islam has both temporal and spiritual functions none of which can be taken for granted. The word Mosque is the corrupt English pronunciation of 'MASJID' as derived from the Egyptian dialect (‘Masgid’) which means a place of prostration.
Mosque is not just a building in which Muslims worship. It is rather any pure place where observance of Salat can be done as an act of worship. As a place of congregation, Mosque serves many legitimate purposes each of which has a fundamental significance. For instance the very first Mosque established by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in Medina (Masjidul Quba) was a multipurpose one. That Mosque did not serve as a place of worship alone. It also served as a school, a library, a clinic, a court of justice and even a parliament for the Muslim community. And, ever since its establishment as a centre of congregational worship, Mosque has continued to serve all those purposes throughout the Islamic world.
That was why the very first University ever established in the world, the University of Cordoba in Spain, started as a Mosque. And, it will be recalled that even the three oldest Universities in the world today: Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; Qarawiyyin University in Fez, Morocco and Zaytuniyyah University in Tunis, Tunisia, all started as Mosques.
Using the above yardstick to judge what the Mosque is in our society as against what it ought to be, therefore, one can sincerely conclude that our Mosques in Nigeria are grossly underutilized.
Hardly can we find in our society today, a Mosque that is used as a court of justice, a library, a parliament and a hospital. Whereas Islam is a dynamic religion and the Mosque is supposed to be a symbol of that dynamism, this is rarely considered when it comes to establishing Mosques in our society.
Today, we need Mosques in our societies more than ever before. We need Mosques for thorough Islamic education, sound training and good orientation for our youths, women and children. In fact, we need Mosques to backup Muslims’ proper home training as a way of reforming our society.
That is why we must provide, in every Mosque, those amenities mentioned above if only to give our children the best education they deserve, as our own little way of making our society a worthy place to live in.
In our Mosques, we need tutorial classes for our Imams and Muadhdhins as well as good libraries for reading and research.
For Islam to continue to play its dynamic role as originally designed, enabling environments must be ventilated for the training of our children spiritually and temporally.
Dr.Femi Abbas is a columnist at The Nation Newspaper and can be reached via:E-mail: femabbas756@gmail.com Tel: 08115708536 (Text only)
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