Fancy Masajid: Are they really needed?

[umm hussain]

By the way the whole earth has been made a masjid for muslims apart from the graveyards, toilet, rubbish dump and something I might have left out and tayammun has been made halal for us to make it easy for us to pray wherever we might be so instead of spending millions building 'mosques' that money can be used in a lot of better ways.

Our brothers and sisters are dying of hunger plus there are many orphans and widows who need help. I doubt building will attract people to Islam buildings or no buildings people will turn to Islam by Allahs will.

Fitness classes or teaching quran should be kept in their rightful places. Quran and Arabic or other than that can be taught in Madrassas and Fitness classes in a gym for example or somebodies back garden. This is the whole point a mosque isn't for entertainment or recreation but is supposed to be for worship.

 

[aliff]

I voted for not to spend money for fancy Masjids. Priority should be given to situation where people actually are in need of money than Building Fancy Masjids. Islamic schools/Madrassa is where people should spend more money, as the swaab there recurringly increases with time . In my home city, Dhaka which is called the city of Mosques, people spend more money on Masjid. Majority of people who becomes wealthy, spends money on Masjids rather than Madrassa or other places. As a result, for every 5 minutes you walk in Dhaka, you would probably end up finding 1 Masjid around you !.

 

[apocalypse77]

this is the mentality of muslims nowadays that sometimes i think the reasons why we are behind times and not like the muslims who live back in the islamic empire 500 years back(am i correct?)..i understand we live here for the hereafter but does that mean we cant think of the dunya since were living in dunya and we cant progress and modernise?true we are living for the hereafter but we cant deny the fact that we are living in the dunya and we need food,shelter etc.

id say, live for BOTH the dunya and akhirat.decorations and fancy masjids are ok as long as they dont distract people from not being a practising muslim.

if we can be the richest muslim on earth then why not?if one can be the richest muslim one can built a madrahas and help the charity.as long as one doesnt forget and forget he has to attribute to his sustainer allah swt.

what im trying to say is fancy mosques are allowed if one has the money but its NOT the most important people in the life of a mu' min.

i ahppen to type random so u may either understand or not

 

[muhavere]

Asalamu Alykum,

Brother muhavere my response to that is a beautiful Mosque shouldnt attract us to worship Allah (S.W.T). The Quran should, a small thought came to me right now, when you see a beautiful Mosque its bright and stands out but when you open the Quran i have the thought a huge bright light emerges from it:

"Had We sent down this Qur'an on a mountain, verily, thou would have seen it humble itself and cleave asunder for fear of Allah, such are the similitudes which We propound to men, that they may reflect". (Surah Al-Hashr, Verse 20)

The verse above comes to mind for some reason, sorry if it has no relation to this. But a mosque should not make us reflect, reading or listening to the verse above should make us reflect. Inshallah i have made sense and havent just rambled on. Its a good act to fund the "Build the Mosque fund", although that money could used elsewhere more effectively, like helping those in need. Although just to say i am not biased a beautiful Masjid will attract the Ummah although to counter that the Quran should be attracting us. Allah (S.W.T) knows best.

Beautiful Mosques built back then were like the main Mosque. Like for example a town in Turkey all prayed at one Mosque. But nowadays its like you have 5 different Mosques in one town and when another person decides they will build one, they will try and make it better. Really each town should have one big Mosque in each town where it is easily accessible and nothing fancy.

Im sorry if i have gone off topic or did not make sense.

Alhamdulilah

Wasalam

I don't agree with you when you say mosques must not attract us to pray. It is a general rule and very reasonable (call it the way Allah has made thing work) that if some place offers something it means that it wants to function. Like a supermarket wants to sell its products is being made attractive in order to be active, working, doing what it has to do. Just like that mosques are build for people to worship Allah only, that requires it to be attractive to his target group. In the world, everything is calling us to worship Allah. Allah has even made a small fly an inviter to Him so why should we exclude mosques from being alluring for the same purpose.

Some say that money has to be spend on other more urgent matters like food for the poor. However, people have a budget for every charity. You can not make people add their money they normally give to mosques to the amount of money the are willing to spent on the poor or for some other purpose because you can spend more money when you divide it than when you give one big sum. That is how people are, they also like to contribute to multiple matters and can get easily tired of constantly giving to one same charity. Besides that I think most people don't give their alms with exact knowledge of how much they give. Money is being collected after a juma, eid or another special day and the person who gives it does that in a group mentality, he doesn't think very well about the amount he last time gave and when and how often a similar money-collecting event occured.

 

[wannabe_muttaqi]

masjid is a place of worship. it should have all the facilties for a person to help him/her to pray and apart from that watever extra it has in my opinion is not much of use to anybody's dunya or akhira . so we can use that money to get rid of problems of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world.

 

[samiha]

:salam2:

I am of the opinion of simplicity. Yet I stand to say, that Mosques should be cleaned, purified, and of course beautified.

But the excessiveness in making something beautiful is downright not acceptable. Whether you be the richest millionare or not, I don't see it fit that you spend those hundreds of dollars on add-ons to the mosque that are completely un-needed.

Do you people know how many people that money could feed? Have you ever gone to a poor country? Seen those desolate eyes stare into yours and make you want to cry for them? For the pitiful lives they live while we lavish ourselves in overdone Mosques? Have you seen children beg you hand for money, crying thier misfortunes on your doorstep? Have you seen those who's face lights up in excitement at recieving a pencil? If not, you should, it's VERY humbling.

Man, compared to that, we're so full of ourselves and used to everything we have! I hate materialism so much. And seeing such extravagance in mosques constantly reminds me of it.

There are warnings in the Quran about wasters.

"And it is He Who produces gardens trellised and untrellised, and date palms, and crops of different shape and taste (its fruits and its seeds) and olives, and pomegranates, similar (in kind) and different (in taste). Eat of their fruit when they ripen, but pay the due thereof (its Zakaat, according to Allah's Orders 1/10th or 1/20th) on the day of its harvest, and waste not by extravagance. Verily, He likes not extravagant wasters," (6:141)

"O Children of Adam! Take your adornment (by wearing your clean clothes), while praying and going round the Ka'bah, and eat and drink but waste not by extravagance, certainly He (Allah) likes not extravagant wasters." (7:31)

"And give to the kindred his due and to the Miskin (poor) and to the wayfarer. But spend not wastefully (your wealth) in the manner of a spendthrift." (17:26)

That's all I have to say.

wasalam

 

[elmorro]

Asalamualyku,

Like a supermarket wants to sell its products is being made attractive in order to be active, working, doing what it has to do. Just like that mosques are build for people to worship Allah only, that requires it to be attractive to his target group.

Brother, when people go to the supermarket sometimes buy stuff they don't really need. Cause this place is being that attractive for one purpose which is getting money out of your pocket no matter what. Make it look good, but what about the quality and do we really need this or that product. Islam isn't about all this and has never targeted Muslims the way supermarkets do to people.

Again, this doesn't mean we should have bad looking or unclean masajid :astag:.
We should focus on the Rissalah (Message) first.

 

[alkathiri]

:salam2:

i didnt know abt the hadith...

i change my mind. I think it is better to enlarge the mosque and build a quality mosque as in a mosque having multiple purpose ...

 

[Bawar]

when i was younger, i was living in a village in an asian country. in the summer, the temperature would most of the times reach as high as 48 degree C. on friday, if i could not find a place under the roof then i had to pray in the open. my feet and head would burn with heat and it was hard to concentrate on prayers. instead, i couldn't wait to finish prayers asap and run home. most of the people attending this mosque had houses which were more comfortable.
if you have money and need a house, would you build yourself a comfortable house first or spend that money for madrasa, spreading the message of islam...etc. to be honest, most of us would go for the first option, then why is it that when it comes to building the house of allah swt, we are not so keen.
perhaps we should keep a balance and give everything its fair share of attention, financial backing...

sombody please tell me if this is an authentic hadith: Innallaha jameelun, yuhebbul jamala"
wassalam

 

[noorunnisa24434]

:salam2:

Anas reports that the Messenger of Allah said:

"The Hour will not come to pass until the people vie with each other in (building) the mosques."

This is related by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, anNasa'i, Ibn Majah, and Ibn Hibban who calls it sahih. Ibn Khuzaimah's wording is:

"A time will come when the people will vie with each other in (building) the mosques but very few will attend (the mosques)."

Ibn 'Abbas reports that the Messenger of Allah said:

"I have not been ordered to build high and lofty mosques." Abu Dawud's version adds: "Ibn 'Abbas said: 'You will certainly embellish them as the Jews and Christians embellished [their places of worship]."'

The preceding hadith was related by Abu Dawud and by Ibn Hibban who calls it sahih.

'Umar ordered mosques to be built and would say:

"Protect the people from the rain. Beware of red and yellow decorations for they distract people."

This is related by Ibn Khuzaimah in his sahih and by al-Bukhari in mualaq form.

Salaam,

Mosque is the place of worship for Muslims and it should be clean since we pray there.Mosque will automatically decorated when people come to pray willingly and full faith which we find decreasing.

Decorating mosque is like how a non muslim decrates the temples and the gods inside that.

Allah Hafiz
Noor

 

[dna1987]

Salam alaikum.

I think the "fancy" part is off putting. I have nothing against a mosque that has a good architectural design. I'd actually prefer a mosque that looked nice and unique (compared to a typical house), and it'll make it easier to spot too.

There's a difference between a good, asthetic design and pointless extravagance. (eg, dome made from normal materials versus solid gold linings, with ultra fine velvet carpet, etc).

Salam alaikum.

 

[TheHumbleWun]

Asalamualyku,



Brother, when people go to the supermarket sometimes buy stuff they don't really need. Cause this place is being that attractive for one purpose which is getting money out of your pocket no matter what. Make it look good, but what about the quality and do we really need this or that product. Islam isn't about all this and has never targeted Muslims the way supermarkets do to people.

Again, this doesn't mean we should have bad looking or unclean masajid :astag:.
We should focus on the Rissalah (Message) first.

Asalaamalikum,

It's almost like saying don't live in a nice house. If you strived hard in your life to please Allah and you obtained a high education, gave money to charity,have a well paid job, etc-- then don't buy a nice "fancy" house. It doesn't make sense. I can perhaps understand not buying a fancy car, because generally car values depreciates whereas house values appreciate and off course cars are more materialistic to the human eyes.

Again, a fancy or bigger masjid can offer more services than just for praying.

 

[ditta]

Asalamu Alykum,

I hate to blow the dust off this thread, but i was reading a book i purchased in realtion to the signs of the last hour and this came up:

Anas ibn Malik (R.A) related that the Prophet (S.A.W) said, "The Hour will not come until people vie with one another regarding mosques (perhaps meaning that they will vie with another in building beautiful mosques of extravagant designs - and Allah (S.W.T) knows best)". (Ahmad)

I dont know whether this has been mentioned but i thought i would post. By the way its from the book:

Book of the End: Great Trials & Tribulations

Very good indeed.

Alhamdulilah

Wasalam

 

[mymohsin]

Asslamo Allaikum,

I am neither an Islamic scholar nor a knowledgeable person but I do believe that in this day and age when our sisters are having to work 2 jobs to make ends meet, fancy Masajid with millions and millions spent on decorating them are UNNECESSARY!

I think we as an Ummah MUST learn Money management. If our leaders & Imams don’t know HOW to manage money, how will We learn?
We should spend money on Islamic Schools and “functional structures” which accommodate the community and NOT get in debt (like most Mosques in UK)!


http://www.zakariyyamasjid.org/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/faith/2003/10/central_jamia_mosque_quran_reading.shtml

There are many many examples up and down the country!

P.S: I went to Norway and Muslims there in smaller communities are struggling to pay rent for their Mussallas & not far from them; we in UK have Masajid which use the Wudhu Towels ONCE & then throw them in the wash!

Salam Brothers/Sisters,

Yes I agree that instaed of spending such huge amt on Masajids it will be nice and better if our leaders can use that amount in a proper organise way like in todays world muslim umma is the most lacking in education and there are some who wanna seek edu but due to financial prob they cant to my lil knowledge we are suffering alover the world as v r going away from the path of Truth just muslim by name if u c after arabs are blessed by ISLAM they are the most cevilised and educated people of that time and i feel sad when i c people spending huge huge amount on mosque j(ust for pride may Allah always protect me from it ameen) and on other hand our brother and sister dont have enough to fulfill there basic i feel sad.

I m sorry if i said tomuch but as this thing really hurts me.

Allah hafiz