ALLAH'S MASJID

On immediate arrival in Medina,
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) went
forth to locate a suitable location for
a Masjid and organized its construction.
The latter had a great significance in his
life and is the most important center in
any Muslim community even today. World
over the beauty of Masjid architecture is
often breathtaking. But that is not the
case in most of the Masjids in Kashmir.
‘Masjids are nothing better than the meanest cultivator’s cottage in Kashmir’ wrote
W. Lawrence in his book, Valley of
Kashmir. A typical Kashmiri Muslim in
fair and easy times pays little attention to
the Masjid and to the imam and reason,
and the reason might be that Kashmiri
Sunnis are only Musalmans in name’.
With a spree of Masjids built now, believers may take pride in the huge attendance
clocked but then they privately admit that
‘hearts’ continue remain sinners.
Righteousness and deep devotion to religion carry an astoundingly strong appeal.
Who would not like to be rightly guided?
Religious bigots and half-baked religiously
worldly wise men amongst us get to thinking high of religious zealotry. Keen as
mustard, they want to be in public eye and
conjure visions of people noticing them
pray five times in the Masjid. They love to
parade their wares; they get off on it and
doll up. Wearing a flowing beard & skull
cap, posing pious, as if they draw inspiration directly from Allah, these visitors to
Masjid go kind of wild. They insure &
ensure to be the early birds to settle down
in the first row (suff)…….the late comers
cleave their way forward to the first suff
after leap-frogging scores of necks. Before
and after nimaz in the spree of whispers
they would bob up and down every now
and then as if to mark attendance. After
nimaz they settle down in a corner to shoot
the breeze, some of them make wry faces
at new comers and even gossip affairs of
every living (even dead) soul in the locality
(imam and muezzin included) and drag the
poor fellows through the mud. They are
the last to leave Masjid.
A motley collection of nimazees that
attend the Masjid may include know-it-allexperts that correct you every time you
confront them; Sherman tanks that run
right over you; megaphones that talk your
ear off; cry babies that chronically complain; and credit grabbers that are out to
outsmart everyone. A group of Nimazees
would indulge in making noise therewith
the talking on their tongue things heavenly or things earthly or things scriptural;
things sacred or things profane; things
past or things to come; things more essential or things circumstantial. The pious lot
filled with remorse is invisible to the common eye. They hide themselves behind the
crowd.
Imams are largely the low-paid professionals, prone to the ‘revolving door syndrome’. With local imams scarce as hen’s
teeth, the ubiquitous non locals have since
taken over masjids everywhere. With the
audience mostly self absorbed, unstirred,
and deaf to the tirade of same old ‘wa’az-onaseehat’ the anecdotal ‘imamat-bagaireistenja’ may not be something far-fetched.
Most of the times, imams who say what
the Masjid committees want are pawns.
This is because they don't want to bite that
hands that feed them. Masjid committees
that comprise of them who want to be
"leaders" in the Masjids, invariably bring
in dirty politics in the running of Masjid
affairs.
The self styled Masjid committee members; invariably ‘khada pench’ and retired
government officials, puff up with pride
and arrogance. As if in receipt of kind of
‘formal license’, they make judgments
about rights and wrongs in the
locality.They however fail to defend themselves when some one asks them, how
come the masjid was built on government/public land without proper permission/compensation.They can't similarly be
expected to defend themselves as to how
the masjids use unauthorized
electric/water connections (also boilers),
heaters and feel immune to any other
unlawful practice. Once in coon’s age when
the committee decides to construct new
Masjid, the cacophonic volunteers (mike in
hand) & copper tray (traam) placed on
stool in the middle of the road, throw them
(selves) to cajole passersby into parting
with a tenner or so. Masjid property is
highly prone to embezzlement and misuse
by the unscrupulous committee members.
The keen eyed criticaster amongst the seasonal (Ramzan) nimazees pours scorn on
the performance of the Masjid committee.
He seeks explanation as to why advices
given by him last Ramadan were not
implemented. The upshot is that the
Masjid committees invariably resign/or
dethroned during or immediately after
Ramadan.
Loudspeaker system, clocks, gas
lighters/heaters and other valuables
(except scriptures) in a Masjid are invariably kept under lock & key. For anyone
who goes to Masjid the hangover of shoebeing-stolen would annoy him all through
his nimaz. A person who usually leaves for
Friday prayers as a happy man finds his
post-Juma happiness streak abruptly
ended when his shoes go missing. In the
specter of chaos and panic he runs home in
his socks in the rain, something that is the
most excruciating thing he has ever done
in his entire life. Visitors would keep the
pair at two different places in the cubby
hole. Divided on maslak, scores of Masjids
built adjacent often rant at each other. The
high decibel recitation of Darood and
awarad fatehia in the Masjids would split
eardrums. He who tries to protest would
invite fatwa.
Masjid is a vital cornerstone in the building of any Muslim community. It is the
responsibility of the Masjid committees,
Imams and the local Muslim community to
ensure that the Masjids are always a
reflection of Islam, not “their Islam” or
‘maslak’, nor one created through fear and
pressure and for vested interests, by being
actively involved in them. They who run
Masjids and attend to pay their obeisance
to Allah, the almighty, are duty bound to
ensure that the Masjids remain a place
where Islam is the reference point.
Number of Masjids that grow here and
there and the huge attendance of believers
that they invite do not however mean that
people have grown pious. We as believers
are required to introspect why it is so.
("Masjid to bana di shab bhar mein
imaan ke hararat walon ne; man apna
purana papi hay barson mein namazi ban
na saka".
"Those with fervor in their faith built the
masjid in a night, but the heart is sinful
and did not prostrate in years."….IQBAL)