Dear brothers and sisters, every week we have the blessing\nof coming to the mosque or masjid to pray our Friday prayers. For some of us,\nthis is a daily trip and for those who are truly blessed, the masjid is a place\nthey visit five times every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the role of the masjid is more than the prayers\nalone. It serves as a central point, a community centre, for our local Muslim\ncommunity. In fact, it offers its services to Muslims and non-Muslims alike,\nsuch is the importance and diverse nature of the masjid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The masjid is the house of Allah SWT and each one, all over\nthe world, shares this important status. This is the place you come to for\nescape from the outside world; and this is the place you visit to avoid the\ndistractions and worries that the world presents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, the house of Allah SWT should be free of the\ndistractions of the outside world and instead, the masjid should be the focal\npoint for worship, remembrance of Allah SWT and doing things for the sake of\nAllah SWT such as guiding and helping one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The imam reminded us of this through references of the\nQuran. The first of these was from Sura Al-Jinn, ayat 18 which is translated to\nsay:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The places of worship are \u02f9only\u02fa for Allah, so do not invoke anyone\nbesides Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And sura at-tawba,\nayat 18 which is translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mosques of Allah shall be\nvisited and maintained by such as believe in Allah and the Last Day, establish\nregular prayers, and practise regular charity, and fear none (at all) except\nAllah. It is they who are expected to be on true guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear brothers and\nsisters, each and every one of us should feel a sense of ownership and pride to\nour mosques. We should want to be part of the mosques, their activities and\nservices, step forward when volunteers are required and encourage one another\nto attend the prayers within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the imam\nreminded us, the masjid is a reminder from Allah SWT to come and remember Him,\nto seek the reward and mercy of Allah SWT in His house whilst in this world, as\nthere will be a day when we will not get this opportunity again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear brothers and\nsisters, we were also taught by the best of all creation SAWS, that the masjid\nplays a pivotal role in society and in our communities. The imam used todays\nreminder to reference the following hadith which are translated to say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Whoever builds a mosque for\nthe sake of Allah, like a sparrow’s nest for Allah or even smaller, Allah will\nbuild for him a house in Paradise.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe parts of the land dearest to\nGod are its mosques, and the parts most hateful to God are its markets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear brothers and\nsisters, it is not easy to incorporate the masjid to your daily routine. Most\nof us have so many commitments that are already rendering us tired and rushed\nthat the prospect of adding daily visits to the masjid seems daunting and\noverwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, it is\nworth mentioning at this point that this view may be flawed for two reasons.\nFirstly, it could be that the reason why we feel this way is that we don\u2019t feel\nthe blessing of time. Often in our weekly reminders we are asked to think and\ncontemplate about the blessings that are bestowed upon us by Allah SWT. We\nthink of things at this point like our wealth, our youth, our looks, our status\netc. But how many of us think of time as one of these blessings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ask those whose\ntime in this world has run out and they will tell you that time is the biggest\nblessing of them all. This is the blessing that we cannot spend any slower, it\nis the blessing we cannot purchase any more of and it\u2019s the blessing we know\nmay run out at any time \u2013 and we cannot control when that will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ask yourself, is\nthe reason of time being the obstacle to come and pray a valid one? Or could it\nbe that shaitaan is presenting that obstacle to you as a form of distraction\nfrom worship as he said he would to each and every one of us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And if the thought\nof not coming to the masjid is due to worldly yet valid reasons, then the\nsecond point is worth mentioning because who is it that gives you the world? If\nyou are busy because of work or kids or your spouse or your family or your\neducation then who gave you those blessings in the first place? Could it not be\nthat those could no longer exist in your life and thus freeing up your time? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear brothers and\nsisters, we need to be careful that we do not become complacent and use the\ngifts and blessings Allah SWT has bestowed upon us as the exact reason to be\nungrateful and neglect the masjid. And if the worldly reasons are a source of\nworry then it\u2019s even more of a reason to come here and ask Him for help and for\nguidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so, this\nreminder concludes with 3 practical tips we can take to help us establish the\nhabit of coming to the masjid:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dear brothers and\nsisters, we need to be of those mentioned by the Prophet SAWS as receiving\nshade on the day of judgement. One of those groups of people are described as\nbeing a man whose heart is attached to the mosque. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear brothers and sisters, every week we have the blessing of coming to the mosque or masjid to pray our Friday prayers. For some of us, this is a daily trip and for those who are truly blessed, the masjid is a place they visit five times every day. However, the role of the masjid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_regular_price":[],"currency_symbol":[],"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"post_slider_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","post_slider_layout_landscape_large":"","post_slider_layout_portrait_large":"","post_slider_layout_square_large":"","post_slider_layout_landscape":"","post_slider_layout_portrait":"","post_slider_layout_square":"","full":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3085\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salahadeenmosque.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}