Important Mosques,Masjid-e-Nabvi

Importance of Mosque in Islam 

The Arabic word for mosque is Masjid. It means a place for prostration or worship. 

Masjid-e-Nabv

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purpose of Mosque

The mosque has had more than one purpose in Islam. 
1-It has been and still is a place where Muslims gather together five times a day to offer prayers. 
2-Here, the Muslims can be educated on all questions of community welfare. 
3- The Friday sermon is a weekly lecture on current religious, moral, cultural and political issues facing the Muslim community. 

Congregational prayer in Mosque

Prayers are required to be offered in congregation under the leadership of the head of the state or his representatives in various mosques of the state. This was the practice of the Holy Prophet((PBUH)) and his immediate successors who always led the congregational prayer five times a day in the mosque at Madinah. 

Mosque is centre of all Muslim activities

In the days of the Holy Prophet((PBUH)) and his early successors, the mosque was the only centre for all kinds of Muslim activities, where all im­portant national questions were settled. 
War strategies, methods of defence and expeditions were all discussed in the mosque. Whenever, it became nec­essary to inform the Muslims on any matter of importance, a sermon or lec­ture was delivered in the mosque. In addition to this, there were also arrangements for those people who wanted to acquire knowledge. Men trained as missionaries for the spread of Islam received their education in the mosque.

Mosques as liberaries

They were also lodged in rooms called the Suffa, attached to the mosque. In later times, libraries were attached to the mosques, some of them containing as many as 100,000 books.. 

 Mosques as council halls

The mosque also served as the council hall of the Muslims. In the time of Hazrat Umar(R.A), two councils were appointed to advise the khalifa, and these councils met in the mosque. 
Deputations from Muslim as well as non-Muslim tribes were received in the mosque. Judicial affairs were also settled in the mosque. The mosque was the spiritual, political, educational and social cen­tre for the Muslims.

 Masjid-e-Quba (first mosque of Islam)

While migrating from Mekkah to Madinah, the Holy Prophet((PBUH)) stopped at Quba, a village near Madinah. 
During his stay, he built a mosque known as Masjid-e-Quba. This was the first mosque to be built in Islam and which is revered by the Muslims the world over. 
In the construction of this mosque, the Holy Prophet ((PBUH)) himself took part and worked as a labourer along with his companions.

Important Mosques

Masjid-e-Nabvi

 When the Holy Prophet(PBUH) migrated to Madinah, there was no mosque there. The Muslims used to offer prayer whenever it was time for them. Then, under the orders of Allah, the Holy Prophet(PBUH) built a mosque where all Muslims could congregate.
 This mosque was known as Masjid-e-Nabvi or the mosque of the prophet. It is the second mosque built under Islam. The Holy Prophet(PBUH) selected a vacant site near the place where his camel sat down on entering the city of Madinah. The land belonged to two orphans, who wanted to give the land as a gift. But the Holy Prophet(PBUH) did not think it reasonable to deprive the orphans of its value. 
Therefore, after paying its price, the building of the mosque was started. The Holy Prophet(PBUH) himself, worked hard with his companions in the construction. The walls of the mosque were made of unbaked bricks, the roof was made of mud and date palm leaves and the pillars were made from the trunks of date palm trees. The mosque was extended during the khilafat of Hazrat Umar(R.A).
 It was expanded again by Hazrat Usman(R.A), to meet the needs of the increasing number of the congregation. It has been rebuilt and extended many times in the centuries after the Holy Prophet(PBUH). The Masjid-e-Nabvi is the most sa­cred and Holy mosque after the Holy Ka’abah.