All praise is to God. We thank him, depend on him and ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in God from the evils of ourselves and our wrongdoings. Whoever God guides, no one can misguide. And whoever God misguides, there is no guide for them. And I testify that there is no one worthy of worship except God alone, Who Has no partner. And I also testify that Mohammad is His servant, messenger and friend. He delivered the trust, gave advice to the Ummah (community) and left us on the bright path, its night like its daytime, only those who are destroyed deviate from it. Peace and blessings on the Prophet, his family, his friends, and those who follow their way until the Day of Judgment. May Allah be pleased with them all. O those who believe, be God-conscious as He deserves and do not die except in the state of Islam, the state of Submission. This is Allah’s message to you and I.
Allah Almighty says: “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp: the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as it were a brilliant star: Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-illuminated, though fire does not touch it: Light upon Light! Allah does guide whom He will to His Light: Allah does set forth Parables for men: and Allah does know all things.” (24:35) “ (Such light is lit) in houses, in which Allah has given permission to honor and mention His name: In them He is glorified in the mornings and in the evenings repeatedly” (24:36). “By men whom neither traffic nor merchandise can divert them from the Remembrance of Allah, nor from regular Prayer, nor from the practice of regular Charity: Their only fear is for the Day when hearts and eyes will be transformed (The day of Judgment) “ (24:37).
In this verse, Allah makes a metaphor of the light within the believer as a niche. The metaphor is of the heart of the believer and what it contains of Faith (from instinct) and Quran. The heart is described as a transparent lamp made out of jewelry, which is powered by the Faith and Quran as pure fuel that has no impurities or faults. Our hearts are a trust upon us. Many Muslims complain from a hardened heart and say: “I want to heal my sick heart. How do I make it softer? How do I make it in continuous remembrance of God?” O Servants of Allah, our hearts must be maintained and cared for. Our hearts are such that if sins come upon them and if we are consistent in sin, the owner of the heart becomes sinful far away from God. And if things stay like this for a while, it can easily turn into a great disaster. So how do we heal our hearts? How do we treat our hearts and make them leaner? Solutions within Islamic scholarship in this subject have been numerous. There is an important solution that I’d like to place some extra emphasis on today, so that we can take extra care of it. This solution is the Masjid.
So what is the relationship between the heart and the Masjid? And how is the Masjid a way to heal the heart? O Muslims, our Prophet (pbuh) has mentioned seven kinds of people that are shaded on the Day that there is no shade except Allah Almighty’s shade. One of them was: “A man who has his heart attached to the Masjid” So there is a strong relationship between the Masjid and the heart.
Allah Almighty says, “(Such light is lit) in houses, in which Allah has given permission to honor and mention His name: In them He is glorified in the mornings and in the evenings repeatedly” (24:36) Verily, the Masjid is the best and more pure location on the earth that is illuminated by the heavenly lights, visited by angels. Truly, it is the best location to Allah Almighty. It is the place people compete in good deeds, the place believers meet, the place worship is performed, and the place where angels and mercy descends. In the Masjid, the heart is cleansed. In this place, believers get together in the obedience of God, while the heads and bodies become on the same level for God, bowing and prostrating, rising and lowering.
In the Masjid, purity is present. So frequenting the Masjid and maintaining it with good deeds is a great healing for our hearts. Truly, it can be a great healing for those who seek it and complain about disease, as our hearts can contain many diseases, desires and suspicious behavior. When our Prophet (pbuh) was fatally sick, he ordered that two men of his family take him out to the Masjid out of love. Aisha, may God be pleased with her, “I saw his feet dragging from pain, as he couldn’t lift them.” O servant of God, if you visit the Masjid, you come in within God’s protection and guarantee. If you visit the Masjid purely for the sake of an obligatory prayer, your reward is that of a pilgrim performing a prayer, as narrated by Abu Dawud.
We must think abut how much reward is attached to attending the Masjid. Every step to the Masjid raises your place, erases your sins and increases your reward and God multiplies that reward many times. The First Generation used to increase the number of their steps on their way to the Masjid to increase their reward, in calmness, without hooking their fingers together while on their way to the masjid, as the Prophet (pbuh) called against this, as it takes you away from God-consciousness. So even on your way to Masjid, you are in prayer, there must be a sense of calmness in your movement.
O Muslims, verily the Houses of God have become the target of destruction by some enemies of God, as they have realized the value of the Masjid more so than some Muslims themselves, therefore, they have casted many forms of destruction towards it. Therefore, increasing our presence and revitalizing its role in our society is a great service for everyone who appreciates their religion, the oneness of God and wants victory for Islam, as there is much hate and animosity in the hearts of our enemies towards our Masjids, to that point that many Masjids have been destroyed in many places in the world. We should be grateful to Allah Almighty for the blessing of being able to make it to His house in the security and peace of these lands. This is a blessing that demands even more thanks and more frequenting of His house, and staying there for long periods of time reading Quran, attending the lecture, classes and circles of knowledge.
Therefore, it is not appropriate to raise our voices in the Masjid, neither is it appropriate to ask people about what they lost, when it comes to business and profit. We should not allow for such conversations to lead us to subjects that have no connection to Islam. Also, we should not allow the Masjid to be a place for criticism, backbiting and slander, which creates an environment that deters certain people while it makes others feel like they are entering a jail when visiting the Masjid, which makes them want to leave as soon as possible. We should all pay attention to the Khateeb (sermon giver) on Friday. It’s not even appropriate to tell your friends to be quiet during the Khutbah (sermon), as those who do tell their friend to be quiet risk losing the reward of Friday. It is also important to disconnect from communication from the creation and open up the channels connecting you to God Almighty, in other words, make sure to turn off your cellular phones. It is up to us to advise our family members to not talk about worldly matters in the Masjid, because the Masjid is for worship.
Finally, it is truly saddening when we find those who never visit the Masjid and what it contains from prayer, remembrance of God, reciting of Quran and just sitting in it for worship. We ask Allah to turn all Muslims back to their religion in a beautiful way. I say these words and I seek refuge in God Almighty from each sin. I ask Him for forgiveness. Verily He is All-forgiving All–merciful.
Originally Composed by: Sheikh Watheq | Translated by: Ehab T
