The Muslim and the Mosque

The Muslim and the mosque.
One man and one building.
A man who submits to his Creator and a building where he submits.
The primary act of the Muslim, and therefore of the human being, is to prostrate himself before his Lord.
It is the moment and the position in which man is closest to the Merciful and to his own reality.
Among men there are those who accept this and those who reject it.
They both reside in the same world, but in a very different way.
The Muslim has a book and an example and strives to live his life according to both, which are in fact one.
The kafir, the one who puts a cloak between himself and the truth, believes that he knows better, or rather does not want to follow the available guidance, preferring his own opinion.
Naturally, there is a little of both in each, but generally submission or rebellion predominates in one or the other.
Allah tests each with the other: the Imam of the Muslim and the rejection of the kafir.

The mosque, the meeting place for prostration, is the place where only the Muslim will fulfill that obligation.
When you enter the mosque, you leave this world, and this is one of the reasons why talking about worldly things within its walls is discouraged.
Rasulullah, peace be upon him, said that Salat, prayer, is Mir’aj, the ascent of the Muslim, the abandonment of this world to the heavens.
The original journey taken by the Rasul, from Makkah to Jerusalem and then through the seven heavens, and at the closest point to his Lord that any being, man, jinn or angel has been or will ever be, was when prayer was given to us as a gift.
The Mir’aj of Rasul was where and when Allah gave him everything and was completely satisfied and at the same time gave him Salat for his Ummah, the basis of all good deeds for the human race.

This act of Salat in the mosque is the basis of any Muslim community.
The first thing that the Rasulullah did, when it finally came to Madinah al-Munawwarah, i.e. the place where the Deen was first established, was to fix where the mosque would be built, and after this the market.
A Muslim community revolves around men who come together and leave whatever they are doing elsewhere and prostrate themselves before Allah.
Man is capable of so much evil and destruction that he needs to be anchored in his bondage to Allah, and prayer in the mosque is the cornerstone of a just and merciful society.
Without this, a soldier can commit genocide, a merchant deceives and ruins others, a leader can be corrupted by the merchant and punish the poor, and families will be mistreated and abandoned.
With Salat, hearts are softened and the other is considered.

The Muslim in the mosque who performs his duty daily with sincerity and submission to Allah, puts the world in order, because Allah will protect him and others from his most basic ego and make him generate compassion and probity. Allah says in the Qur’an:

It is true that salat prevents indecency and reprehensibility.
(The Spider, 29:45)

Traditionally, the mosque was always next to the market, this world and the one that comes side by side.
When the Muslim leaves the mosque, the place that has nothing to do with worldly existence, he immediately enters the hustle and bustle of the world, which is only occupied with the needs and desires of everyday existence.
It is the dynamic between this two and what is carried from one to the other that shapes the Muslim and his community.
Do you leave the world behind when you enter the mosque or do you pollute your prayer with unrelated anxieties and desires?
Does he take the serenity and clarity of his Salat into his worldly transactions and thereby bring justice and compassion?
It’s obviously a reminder and a struggle, otherwise, why pray five times a day.
In explaining the prayer, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) compared it to washing in a river five times a day, and asked whether a man would still be dirty after doing this.
In addition to that, he mentioned that the prayer in Jama’ah in the mosque was twenty-seven times better than the one done alone.
This is to indicate and emphasize that those five sentences behind the imam In the community mosque they have much more impact than prayer alone or elsewhere.
Allah tells us:

It is true that Allah loves those who fight in His path in ranks, as if they were a solid building.
(The Ranks, 61:4)

This is an echo of the ranks of Salat, where the Imam calls for the closing of the gaps, the exclusion of Shaytan and divisions among men.
This is critical for a community; that men are united by the love of Allah and his Rasul in social interaction, which emanates from the mosque towards the market, so that a man’s submission to Allah is not compromised by obedience to the chieftains who do not follow the laws of Allah.
A Muslim should be free to pray any of the five obligatory prayers in the mosque, which is still possible in these dark times.

The Muslim in these days is not prevented from praying in Jama’ah other than by his own disposition of his affairs and his acceptance of the separations created by modern life.
There is no virtual prayer just as there is no virtual friendship.
Everything that emerges quickly in modern society separates people.
The nature of our existence is necessarily to strive; it is like Allah testing us to see who is who.

Modern technology is trying to make everything easy and convenient, and if we accept this, our effort will be somewhere else, we won’t avoid it, it will just move to another arena and be harder to overcome.
We’ll empty at the same rate as your phone’s battery and won’t have the power to go out and participate.
The Jama’ah of the Muslims turning towards Allah in the mosque is a remedy and antidote.
This is not that it is a good option, but it is a necessity, since the kafir world, of which we are a part, is decomposing, degenerating at an incredible speed, helped by technology.
It is a corpse and almost compost, excellent for new growth, and the only fruit worth planting is Islam, personified by the Muslim shoulder to shoulder in front of his Lord.
Allah does not need our programs, plans, or projects; all He asks of us is our obedience, our sincere submission to His laws, and we will see new life arise from within, clarity of purpose and the understanding of ‘La Hawla wa la Quwwata ila billah’ (There is no strength or power except for Allah).

Any mosque is part of a vast network of mosques, all connected by a single qiblah.
Todo el tiempo en todo el mundo un jama’aat it is established extending from the House of Allah, in Mecca al-Mukarramah.
Whatever the size of any community, whether it’s a rural mud shelter in Mali or a vast building in Sinan, it’s part of that network of worshippers who never stop worshipping their Creator.
A man can travel from mosque to mosque in faraway places and always feel welcome and entitled to be there.

However, a mosque is not just any building, even if it is called a mosque, because Allah warns us that there are those built on the edge of the Fire.
Part of the definition of a mosque is that it is built on the basis of Allah’s Taqwa from the beginning, so the Muslims who build it should fear Allah and have no ulterior motives beyond the pleasure of Allah and facilitate the worship of their Muslim brothers with the understanding that the exclusive property belongs to Allah.
Since the First or Ancient House (The Kaaba) belongs to Allah, all mosques are the houses of Allah.

While there are other structures specialized in the study and dhikrullah, such as madrasas and zawiyyas, the mosque is also a place of learning, perhaps in a more general and fundamental way.
The grand imams had their places and students installed in the mosque and this practice continues to this day.

The mosque is necessarily a masculine environment because of the obligation of men to attend jama’ah, while women, who do not have that obligation, can also attend to learn and worship with men.
It is discouraged that children, who also have no obligation, distract and interrupt the concentration necessary to perform the rites imposed on men.
I have noticed in many mosques that this understanding has weakened, probably due to the influence of an emasculated modern worldview, but it is particularly important around the Salat and Khutba of jumu’ah.
El Jumu’ah es escuchar al Imam; ni siquiera podemos silenciar a alguien que está haciendo ruido, así de importante es escuchar a lo que el Imam nos está llamando.
Es totalmente natural que un niño busque atención, corra, chille de placer, pero es incompatible con la concentración que se requiere en ese momento.
No parece correcto que un hombre deba cuidar a sus hijos cuando tiene una obligación mucho mayor de obedecer a Allah.
Como mencioné antes, un musulmán debe tener la libertad de hacer la oración en la mezquita, un medio para alejarse de este mundo hacia su Señor y la Próxima Vida.

Allah has made man His Khalifa in this world.
He has given man a responsibility of which he will be asked.
With that burden, He has sent messengers with all the details and examples of what He requires of us while we are here.
And because of the difficulty of the task, the rewards are high, but because of the importance of the task, ignoring the command comes at a high price.

The Muslim in the mosque lays the foundation for Allah’s mercy, justice, and pleasure.
May Allah give us the desire, strength and steadfastness to do our work. Lecture given by Hajj Isa Bryce on July 7, 2018 during the fifteenth anniversary of the Great Mosque of Granada.