Masjid - what is it?
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Peace be upon you,
My understanding is that a "masjid" is not a PHYSICAL LOCATION for the simple fact that we are told to face the "restriced masjid" AT ALL TIMES, NO MATTER WHERE WE ARE. ) (Bold letters only for emphasis).
It is not possible for all of us to face the homeless shelter whereever we are at all times.
The word "sujood" means prostrate. It implies the submitting or your Will to God's WILL. That is where the prostration takes place.
To get to the point, the "restricted masjid" is your sphere of awareness in your mind where you must always submit your wrong thoughts and images to the proper thoughts and images. It is thoughts and images that direct our lives, they are the KEYS to behavior.
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Peace all,
As i understand
Submission is that of heart and sojood is that of ego which blocks the Heart.
Heart is the opening of that channel which is connected to the eternal realm.
Ego comes to prostration and disappears.( forehead touches the ground during prostration in a symbolic motion to present the surrender of ego). Heart opens up and the real SELF starts manifesting.Has Masjid been ever a physical place? This is of tertiary importance! First thing first! The main purpose is salvation of the SOUL. Without process of Sojood it will not happen. And Masjid is that environment where this process of sojood can be manifested.
Likewise; Is Ramadan a fixed month or is it rotating? Again a non-event. Fasting brings strengthening of WILL and opens the HEART. And so on.......
The FORM should not superceed the PURPOSE.
The FORM can not create a purpose.
A Purpose will creat itrs suitable FORM.peace,
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<<Edited due to nature of content>>
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917 It was not for those who have set up partners to maintain God?s temples while they bear witness over their own rejection. For these, their works have fallen, and in the Fire they will abide.
918 Rather, the temples of God are maintained by he who believes in God and the Last Day, and he maintains the bond, and he contributes towards betterment, and he does not fear except God. It is these that will be of the guided ones.
919 Have you made the watering of the pilgrim and the maintenance of the Restricted Temple the same as one who believes in God and the Last Day and he strives in the cause of God? They are not the same with God. And God does not guide the wicked people.Masjids of Allah (Temples of God) can be maintained by the polytheists. The merit of maintenance of the Masjidul Haram (Restricted Temple) is considered inferior in rank to ?Iman? and ?Jihad?. People may live beside the MH, fighting may take place around MH. Treaties can be made beside MH. All these things mentioned in the Koran indicate that Masjid is a physical place, not a mental state. Masjid can be used, as many other terms, allegorically. Bird or flower can have some allegorical meaning in poetry. But it does change the meaning of bird or flower.
Among all the core concepts of the Quran-aloners, their Masjid-thinking is one that makes my commonsense spin.
But what Alpha has said is to be taken care of. In deed, how true is this.
The FORM should not supercede the PURPOSE.
The FORM can not create a purpose.
A Purpose will create its suitable FORM. -
Peace be upon you Wakas,
as far as im aware "masjid" literally means "implementation of (giving) acknowledgement/recognition" and theoretically, could be physical or non-physical.
How does your understanding fit with the concept that we must ALWAYS face the "masjid"?
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Peace be upon you Prashant,
917 It was not for those who have set up partners to maintain God?s temples while they bear witness over their own rejection. For these, their works have fallen, and in the Fire they will abide.
918 Rather, the temples of God are maintained by he who believes in God and the Last Day, and he maintains the bond, and he contributes towards betterment, and he does not fear except God. It is these that will be of the guided ones.My understanding is that "masjid" is your sphere of awareness which should always manifest righteous thoughts and images, thereby guiding your path to what is right. Your thoughts are your pathway in life. However, due to conditioning, certain thoughts are thrown into our sphere of awareness by the NAFS(subconcious), so we must be vigilant in protecting our persons from such thoughts.
Those who set up partners have the thoughts and images associated with thier partners in theire sphere of awareness. The God's masjid's are the spheres of awareness by people who serve only the God and prevent such thoughts and images from entering using the programming techique of salaat which bring forth purification(zakaat), both mentioned along with this in verse 918.
919 Have you made the watering of the pilgrim and the maintenance of the Restricted Temple the same as one who believes in God and the Last Day and he strives in the cause of God? They are not the same with God. And God does not guide the wicked people.
Masjids of Allah (Temples of God) can be maintained by the polytheists.
If we understand it that way, then it contradicts another verse that says they are no longer allowed there.
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Peace be upon you,
My understanding is that a "masjid" is not a PHYSICAL LOCATION for the simple fact that we are told to face the "restriced masjid" AT ALL TIMES, NO MATTER WHERE WE ARE. ) (Bold letters only for emphasis).
It is not possible for all of us to face the homeless shelter whereever we are at all times.
The word "sujood" means prostrate. It implies the submitting or your Will to God's WILL. That is where the prostration takes place.
To get to the point, the "restricted masjid" is your sphere of awareness in your mind where you must always submit your wrong thoughts and images to the proper thoughts and images. It is thoughts and images that direct our lives, they are the KEYS to behavior.As salamu alaykum wr wb.
Respectfully.Interesting point, i never thought of it this way.
We learn something everyday.As salamu alaykum wr wb.
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Brother idolfree1 and all, salamun alaykum.
I tried with my best efforts to understand what you have said. It is very nice what you have said. A mosque is not an icon. But it does not prevent me taking Kaba as the sacred mosque. It does not prevent me building or going to mosques.
Suppose some persons always wash apples, utter words of devotion for apples. But they do not relate themselves with apple from natural, realistic perspective. So doctor says that apples are not for them rather true apple users are those who are of sound judgment.
In such case, it does not mean apple and sound judgment are synonymous or apples are something mental. It does not also mean that I should stay away from physical apples.
Suppose the Doctor also advises good people that they should always take apples.
In such case, it does not mean that one should be eating apple all the time incessantly. Or I should think that apples must mean something mental which I can go on with incessantly.
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salamz/peace to all tha bruthaz and sistaz of FM,
so i've been thinking about what a masjid really is!?!?
masjid = place of prostration/place for the remembrance of GOD
prostration = submitting ones self/working/striving/living in accordance with the system of GOD
remembrance of GOD = feeding the poor/helping the less fortunate, etc...after much pondering, i've come to the conclulsion that a masjid can be
-the food bank
-homeless shelter
-community centre
-schoolbasically anywhere you can help someone. this is upholding the limits of GOD!
anyway, those are just my thoughts...let me know if i haven't factored something in...
what do you brothers and sisters think?Well said!! Totally agree with you.
But it has something more to it. It means the submitting to God for all your needs - in your heart -
salamz/peace to all tha bruthaz and sistaz of FM,
so i've been thinking about what a masjid really is!?!?
masjid = place of prostration/place for the remembrance of GOD
prostration = submitting ones self/working/striving/living in accordance with the system of GOD
remembrance of GOD = feeding the poor/helping the less fortunate, etc...after much pondering, i've come to the conclulsion that a masjid can be
-the food bank
-homeless shelter
-community centre
-schoolbasically anywhere you can help someone. this is upholding the limits of GOD!
anyway, those are just my thoughts...let me know if i haven't factored something in...
what do you brothers and sisters think?In some Masjid it is already the case
- it is a school for children to learn Quran and or arabic
- in Ramadan you can find free meals for muslims and non-muslims, also some Fridays anyone can offer a meal
- homeless sheleter --> it was the case but then changed their policy for whatver reason
- comunity center
regards
