Masjid to expand its duties

[SeeKer]

I haven't started a thread for a while so here goes

 

Recently during a conversation during the Holy month of Ramadhan at the masjid something struck my heart's chords.I thought I might bring it up and see what the nomads in this bit of cyberworld think about it.

 

We all have a connection with our masjid but when reality sets in most of us visit the building for prayers on occasion. Speaking about the people in the west some of us don't have the time to drive to the mosque for any prayers and might even miss the all important Salatul Jamaaca, but majority of us try to perform this daunting task each week and succeed. I am not going to speak about the spiritual side of the masjid though........I know better than that now, come on.

 

What I do want to discuss is the masjid as a resource center. Masjids are spiritual houses and we go there to strengthen our connection with the Ummah and Allah. What if the masjid uses surpassed this? What if you as a sister could walk into your Imam's office and talk to him like you would a counselor? In the days of Propher Muhammad (S.A.W) he was constantly asked for his opinion and take on matters from mundane to complicated. Most of the masjids in our communities don't have an imam there available for the Ummah. If I have an issue I either consult a brother and hope he seeks guidance from the Imam or try to ambush the Imam on his way out.

 

What if the Masjid helped with after school programs? No not dugsi but programs to instill communal work into the youth. The reason most muslims are misunderstood in the west,apart from media having a hand in it, is because muslims tend to segregate themselves from the community. We live in these communities and hence should play a role in them.

 

There are other resources that come to mind and I will mention a few more like job searching, house searching, car pooling, workshops, adult education. I mean the list is endless. Here is the kicker that most of you have already in your head. Why should the masjid bother to provide these resources when the government does it so darn well?

 

For immigrants which most of us started as its hard to intergrate into society and the first thing that we look for is similarity albeit familiarity. The local masjid was my first port of call when I moved to a different town for school and I felt at home. I got in touch with muslims around the community who helped me out bigtime and now I like this hicky town to bits. :eek:

 

What y'all think?

[Yoonis_Cadue]

Nice, I haven't fully read it but I can guess from its title. Keep them coming.

 

A ideal start to your new thread. I just thought to comment on it to give food for more thought, hmm mind you!

 

P.S. people don't start a fight on me because the key in my comments is "fully".

[Muhammad]

The Masjid depends upon the Muslims in the community, thus for it to expand it's duties, it requires the help and assistance of the people in the community.

 

So each Masjid is a reflection of the people in the society, I'm sure there are some who already offer these programs, in the twin cities the Umat-ul Muhammad masjid has some college/university students that assist with the somali/muslim students in middle/high school, it also provides other youth programs, such as sports, this is mainly due to the fact that some young members of the community have taken the responsibility on their shoulders and decided to contribute and give back to the community.

 

Compared to the so called community centers that just devour resources in the name of 'Somalinimo', I think if the people became proactive and helped the Masjids , Insha'Allah they would become a very fruitfull place for both the dunya and akhirah.

 

I say the power is in the hands of the people, they should start cultivating their own gardens.

[hodman]

So each Masjid is a reflection of the people in the society, I'm sure there are some who already offer these programs, in the twin cities the Umat-ul Muhammad masjid has some college/university students that assist with the somali/muslim students in middle/high school, it also provides other youth programs, such as sports, this is mainly due to the fact that some young members of the community have taken the responsibility on their shoulders and decided to contribute and give back to the community.

Not recently I believe.

But it is upto our generation to make this happen.Seeker is right the masjids need to play a bigger role in our lives and it is upto us to make it happen in my opinion.How to do that is the question though, what with the constant bickering among masjids and the people who go to them.They make the masjids seem like a private members only club.

[SeeKer]

Muhammad,

You believe it should start with the people who attend these mosques to make the change. I agree with you but it is hard when you are faced with confusion and non-management. Coming from NA, we have bodies such as ISNA and MAS that tell us important dates in the Islamic calender (which by the way I disagree cause they always seem to screw up Ramadhan and Eid, making US not part of the Ummah) and organize conferences. Shouldn't these bodies therefore have an infrastructure mapped out for mosques to follow when setting up?

[STOIC]

Seeker, I do agree with you the masjid being the place of strengthening the unity of the ummah.When i was admited to a university outside metro Atlanta the first thing that hit my mind was, here i was in the middle of thirty thousands non-Somali/non muslims , where was i going to find a community that will make my college experience comfortable(besides loging to SOL ) .The first thing i did after a checked in my room(which i shared with ajnabi) was find the nearest mosque.There i found a muslim community which was helpfull and wellcoming.Boy do i thank them a million times for feeding me during Iftar and Suhur.Whenever they missed me a day or two i will get a phone call or an email from the Imam asking me if i was ok.This made me feel once again being part of a community that cared and nurtured it's brothers and sisters in ISlam.I don't know how i can repay them back for all the help they gave me....Now that is what i call a muslim community!

PS This masjid even offered Arabic classes to the larger population of non-muslims around the community.

[Muhammad]

hodman, SeeKer, you are correct, there is a lack of unity and cooporation between the Masjids and organizations such as MAS and ISNA, and even amonst the local Masjids there is some disharmony. this is what I ment, these are institutions managed by people thus they'll reflect the current mood of the society.

 

I support you on that the Masjids should expand their duties to the masses, this requires the efforts of proactive indivituals in the community to unite on purpose not neccesarily opinion.

 

the Masjid STOIC describes is an example of how effective we can become when we come together on the main things. Thats why small Muslim communities have far greater unity and support because you don't focus on if your Somali, Arab, Pakistani.., instead you all share the same Muslim Umbrella.