The mosque has been a very important institution in Islam from the very beginning of its history. In fact the mosque was the first institution established by the Prophet, even before entering the city of Yathrib, later renamed Madinah.
What makes a mosque is not the building but the purpose of its existence. The original purpose of the mosque was to foster piety and unity. Hence, the establishment of the so-called ‘mosque of mischief’ (masjid dirar) by the hypocrites with the purpose of creating enmity and disunity was condemned by the Qur’an. Accordingly, no one should ever set foot in the mosque of mischief.
Piety and unity are indeed inseparable; without piety there is no true unity. The idea of piety as enjoined by Islam is based upon the reality of the Oneness of God (tawhid), the Creator of all creation, the Sustainer, the Cherisher. The noblest before God is the most pious among His servants. As such, man made distinctions which are often based on tribal allegiance, skin colour, descent, wealth, and social status are irrelevant to God. This is the most basic principle of Islamic polity, and this principle should be best reflected in the management of the mosque and its activities.
Today we can see many ‘great’ mosques, old and new, proudly standing in every corner of the world. Do they still serve their original purpose? Ultimately the greatness of a mosque lies not in the size and beauty of its structure but in those who visit and maintain it. People of the mosque are described by the Qur’an (9:108) as “those who love to be purified”. Purity here refers to the purity of body, mind, and soul. It means piety, i.e., carrying out the commandments of God and turning away from what He prohibits. And only the pious are guided (Qur’an, 2: 2). In other words, the mosque is supposed to be the place of knowledge and guidance (and this explains why in Islamic civilization the mosques used to be the centres of learning), through which self-purification becomes possible.
If we talk about education in its broadest sense, every mosque remains a place of education even if one finds no professor formally offering religious instruction. Knowledge, which is the essence of education, has a prerequisite referred to as “adab”. Adab may be translated as “right action”, and it refers to the disciple of the body, mind, and soul. It is the outcome of one’s recognition of the right place of something in the hierarchy of beings, followed by one’s acknowledgement of it through certain action.
Islam requires that adab be observed with regard to the mosque. The word “masjid” (the mosque) literally means the place where the worshippers perform an act of “sujud” (prostration), when one lowers his forehead untill it touches the ground in prayer. It is a conscious expression of humility before God by the grateful servant, following the command of God Himself. The mosque, understood in this regard as the house of prayer, implies that it must be clean from physical and immaterial impurities which would render prayer void and unacceptable to God.
One’s conception of prayer is ultimately founded upon what one thinks of God, the object of one’s worship. One’s attitude, manner and behaviour, particularly in the mosque, are merely a reflection of his level of understanding (or ignorance). So, one’s adab towards the mosque is actually one’s adab towards God Himself, from Whom one seeks guidance. But how would God bestow His guidance upon someone who has no adab even in ‘His house’, so to speak?
To illustrate this point, a visit to the mosque on any Friday will suffice. Friday prayer is indeed a very important weekly occasion because it involves a large section of the Muslim community regardless of their social standing. The sermon (khutbah) is the opportunity to deliver the essential message of Islam, and in relation to that, to remind the congregation of their mistakes and shortcomings. The sermon is an important means of education, and provided that a right person is appointed for the job, it could be a much awaited event for everybody the substance of which would become the topic of discussion.
The fact is, however, nobody cares about the sermon, let alone to reflect upon its message as a topic for discussion later. While the imam is narrating (or rather, ‘reading’) the Friday sermon, we typically observe both young and old lying and sleeping on the floor while others appear to have a good time chatting and making jokes with each other. Children, meanwhile, perhaps taking their que from the behaviour of the adults, can be seen running and playing all over the place. Do not be surprised that many do not even join the prayer after the sermon.
These are some of the common sights that one can observe even in a grand mosque like the Mosque of Wilayah Persekutuan. There is no respect for the sanctity of the mosque as if there is no difference between a mosque and a wet market. In short, there is no adab.
Nevertheless, we can still ask why do people not pay attention to the sermon? Perhaps, one may reply, they do not feel that the sermon is relevant to their concerns and problems. A khutbah, by definition is supposed to engage the minds of the listeners. The Prophet made it very clear, saying: “address mankind according to their intellectual ability”. It is assumed that the khatib (one who delivers the sermon) understands very well not only the message but also the people to whom the message will be delivered. His duty is to interpret the universal message of Islam into the specific environment of his congregation, at once displaying the ability of Islam to guide contemporary life. This will not happen if a khatib is confined to merely reading what has been prepared for him to read. This practice however goes well with the trend of hiring reciters and memorizers to lead the mosques, instead of people of knowledge and understanding. As a result, the Friday sermon has become a meaningless ritual of text reading prior to the prayer, not a forum capable of eleveating the intellectual capacity of the Muslim community.
Let us not forget that if there is such a category in the Qur’an as “the mosques of God”, there must be mosques which are “not of God”. Clearly this categorization is not based opon the shape or size of a particular mosque, but the kind of people who comprise the mosque’s community: both, the visitors and the administrators.