Enliven The Masjid Again

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The French government intends once again to get the anti-Islam policies rolling, after previously, their controversial law banning the wearing of jilbab received furious protests from the Muslims. On the grounds that Muslims pray in the street, the French government intends to restrict the freedom of Muslim citizens in fulfilling their religious obligations.

The French Interior Minister, Claude Guéant, who is known as one of the anti-Islam political think tank politicians in that country, establishes new rules prohibiting the performance of congregational (jama'ah) prayer (solat) at the roadside. This is the result of the increasingly booming congregational prayer participants but which are not accompanied by adequate masjid capacities.

Why do the French authorities seek to restrict the affairs of the Muslim congregational prayer?

Firstly, because that multicultural country is infected with the phobia about Islam. France in particular and Europe in general today are very worried about the very sharp expansion of Islamic adherents. In this country of the Eiffel tower, Islam becomes the second largest religion after Catholicism. The number of adherents are believed to be more than 5 millions.

On the basis of that worries, their governments try as much as possible to suppress the Muslims, either with the discriminatory laws or even through repressive actions.

Secondly, the congregational prayer is akin to a 'show of force' by the Muslims. In the West there, the congregational prayers are always very vibrant and crowded. It is surely different from here (Indonesia – ed.) where the congregation prayers in the masjid are filled only by those certain individuals. The French government are afraid of everything that reeks of a symbol or shi'ar of Islam. Therefore, whenever possible they legalize the strict rules to restrict it.

The ibaadah of jama'ah, be it in the masjid or musolla, is the shi'ar of religion. For those who glorify the shi'ar of Allah, it is mentioned in the Qur'an that it is the characteristic of the people who have taqwa (fear of God).

When talking about the congregation prayer in the masjid or musolla in this country, it sometimes makes us feel sad, sorry and at the same time wonder. We should be ashamed of ourselves with our distant brothers there, whose Islam are only new, but their spirit of jama'ah is very remarkable. Their masjids are crowded and filled with a variety of activities, to the extent that they 'successfully' make their governments, which beyond doubt are kafir, agitated, causing tremendous worries.

Today we see the masjids around us, on average, are deprived of jama'ah. The Muslims prefer to pray at home or their offices. There is even a saying that the masjid or musolla are only suitable for those who are elderly, alias 'those who already has the smell of the earth'. Ironic right?

But we do not need to be dissolved right away, there are many Muslims who still exist making their masjid or musolla prosper. Those who are mentioned by the Prophet SAW in his saying:

إذا رأيتم الرجل يعتاد المسجد فاشهدوا له بالإيمان». قال الله تعالى: {إنما يعمر مساجد الله من آمن بالله واليوم الاَخر}

Meaning: “If you see someone who familiarize himself with (going to) the masjid, then witness for him his iman. Allah says: ‘Indeed the people who enliven the masjid of Allah are only the people who believe in Allah and the Last Day.’” (HR. At-Tirmizi)

Those who are enlivening the masjid today are purely upon the motivation of the hereafter only. So fitting is what Allah SWT has said,

“The masjids of Allah are only to be maintained by those who believe in Allah and the Last Day and establish prayer and give zakah and do not fear except Allah, for it is expected that those will be of the [rightly] guided.” (QS At-Tawbah: 18)

The Prophet SAW gave a lot of motivations to the Musims in general to come to the masjid and make it prosper. He referred them with a good predicate and honored them greatly. As the hadith says:

«إنما عمار المساجد هم أهل الله»

Meaning: “Indeed, those who enliven the masjid are the kinship of Allah.” (HR. Bazzar)

Anyway, the congregational prayer, especially in the masjid, has extraordinary virtues. Praying alone if compared with congregational prayer is 1:27. Meaning, if we perform the congregational prayer one time, it is the same as praying alone 27 times. For someone who spends his age praying alone for 27 years, his rewards could be transcended by a person who likes to pray in congregation in just one year. Truly extraordinary indeed!

Now we need to look in the mirror, why do we leave the masjid deserted. Whereas, from among us, there may be those who serve as the main caretaker of the masjid. Our name may be listed as a member of the 'masjid youths'. Our house is even next door to the masjid.

We may recall, during the construction of the masjid, we were one of its committees. One of them even jumped to pick up the funds by sending proposals to various agencies. We may previously be busy taking part in 'group actions', transporting the bricks when building it, for example. But after the masjid stands majestically, we are pleased and proud to see the results only, instead of being busy enlivening it.

Compare it with the struggles of our brothers in iman in the minority regions, in Europe, America, even in Asia itself. How hard it is for them to have a masjid. The local authorities tend to apply strict rules. In fact, even after the masjid has been standing, they are being strictly watched. Sometimes they have to outsmart it by making their homes as a masjid or renting a building just for the Friday prayer.

In Palestine there, our brothers and sisters are not allowed to pray at Masjid Al-Aqsa unless they are over 50 years old. They dare to clash with the Israeli police for the sake of praying inside Masjid Al-Aqsa. Gunshot wounds and injuries from being hit by weapons did not dampen the moves of our brothers there.

Our circumstances are not as difficult as theirs. They have to fight extra much to obtain their rights. Whereas, we only have to fulfill our obligations. We have not been able to appreciate well this spaciousness and flexibility. While they have been able to combine both feelings of gratitude and patience (shukr and sabr).

May we all be given hidayah and tawfiq by Allah SWT.

Original article in Indonesian by : Habib Ziadi, S.pdi

Alumni of Ma'had Aly An-Nua'imy