A mosque is the most sacred place of a village where people are used to go not only for prayers/worships but also for many affairs including spiritual, judicial, social, cultural and educational purposes.
'The Friday sermons often have a strong practical stance, trying to integrate and apply Islamic beliefs and historical teachings into contemporary daily life. Sermons are significant in bringing the community together as the congregation is standing side by side in a line, facing Mecca, together, all united in their faith and worship of Allah.'
Besides the Friday Jummah prayer, mosque is the centre of many activities that have been carried out by the Muslims as part of their Islamic life. Mosque has made significant impacts on the life of Muslims embracing a number of undertakings including the followings:
* Holds the Friday Jummah prayer in compliance with the verses of Holy Quran: "O you who believe (Muslims)! When the call is proclaimed for the Sal�t (prayer) on the day of Friday (Jumu'ah prayer), come to the remembrance of All�h and leave off business (and every other thing), that is better for you if you did but know!" (Al-Jumu'ah 62:9).
* Muslims to offer five prayers throughout the day at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and night at mosque or at home. Prayer enables Muslims to physically and mentally take a break from their worldly affairs to connect with God several times a day. It establishes a unique communication in between the believers and Almighty Allah (SWT).
* In Ramadan, the mosque becomesa vibrant place for Muslims to perform a number of Islamic rituals. In addition to the five-time prayers a day, many especial events or functions take place in the mosque such as breaking of fast together, miladmohfil, Tarabi prayer, Lailatul-qadr prayer,Itekoff, Eid-ul-fitr prayer etc.
* A mosque is being frequently used as a school of learning to read, recite, and memorise theHoly Quran and to learnNamaj (prayer) especially for the children and adults. It provides a library for Islamic studies. The recitation, study and memorization of the Holy Quran make a central facet of worship for Muslims. The mosque serves as a source of bonding and learning for many newly converted Muslims and provides the community with educational supports and help.
* It provides a place for individual enlightenment, education and moral guidance. Muslims come together for special occasions in the community, such as holidays, weddings and funerals.
* Islamic prayers learned in the mosques strengthen the true human values and sharpen human characters that help to attain perfection needed to serve Islam and the society at large.
* Mosque is the centre of Islamic life in inculcating Islamic values onto Muslims seeking to imbibe Islamic cultural and religious ethos in order to live as genuine Muslims.
* It acts as a treasury for doing charity work. It collects donations from the contributors and extends support to the care of the needy, orphans or sick people. The collection and distribution of sadaqa and zakat are also made from the mosque.
* Prayers in mosques with Jamaat are considered the best way of offering prayers to God. Most of the Muslims prefer prayers in Jamaatconsidering the huge benefits of 'mass-prayers'. It also offers D'awa to non-Muslims who love Islam.
* From the earliest days of Islam, mosque is the centre of the Muslim community, a place for prayer, meditation, religious instruction, political discussion, and a school.The first school connected to a mosque was set up at Medina in 653CE, and by 900CE nearly every mosque had an elementary school for the education of both boys and girls.
* 'Mosques serve as the centres for education and information, places for social welfare, and also for dispute settlement.It provides educational, political welfare and conflict resolution services in times of dispute between groups, families, couples, and individuals.'
All the above activities make a small mosque into a 'great institution' for our spiritual, social, cultural, economic as well as national development. Having recognised the great importance of mosque in our national life the Government of Bangladesh has rightly decided to establish 560 model mosques across the country.
Last year the Prime Minister inaugurated 50 model mosques in different parts of the country and this year another 50 to 100 mosques are expected to be ready for use (PD/IF).
The model mosque would work as a public institution aiming to spread Islamic fraternity, real Islamic values and practices, conduct research, create strong infrastructures for prayers for both men and women, provide religious teaching and training and enhance public awareness against social diseases and to keep the society free from drugs, terrorisms and the curses of child marriage, dowry, and violence against women and children.
Besides the model mosques, there are more than 300,000 community/private mosques in use throughout the country. These mosques are built and managed mostly by the respective community group. Some of them are well-managed and have been serving for long time while some of them need supports to continue and improve their services.
Bangladesh Islamic Foundation supports some of these mosques under its "mosque-wise child and mass education"programme. Islamic Foundation also provides library facilities to some of them. Considering the huge contribution of these mosques to our society as well as to our nation, supports from the Government should have been increased.
Since Islam has always encouraged Muslims to build-up mosque, many generous and devoted Muslims put forward their efforts to build-up and manage it themselves for the welfare of their community.
A village mosque is usually built-up with the initiative of some generous people who contribute with their land, money, labour and even services as an Imam or Muajjin. Devoted Muslims donate regularly during the prayer times which is the source of managing regular maintenance, paying utility bills of water, electricity etc.
Now-a-days our life has been getting very hard to cope with the realities and a village mosque usually requires considerable fund for infrastructural maintenance, paying salaries for Imam, Muajjin and Khadem, and paying utility bills.
Since the present Government has already realized the importance of mosque and its contributions to the overall development of our society as well as our nation, the private sector mosques deserve adequate support and help for its further improvement.
Bangladesh Islamic: oundation should take an initiative to formulate a project for the development of the existing mosques by providing required facilities to serve the community like a model mosque.
The writer is a former editor, Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh and
writes from England
