Chapter Two: The Mosques
باب المساجد
بَابُ الْمَسَاجِدِ — The Chapter on Mosques
This chapter is about mosques.
قَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : وَاَقِيْمُوْا وُجُوْهَكُمْ عِنْدَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍ وَّادْعُوْهُ مُخْلِصِيْنَ لَهُ الدِّيْنَ ـ
(al-Aʿrāf 7:29)
Translation: Allah the Exalted says: At the time of every prayer set your faces straight (i.e., set your attention aright), and call upon Him, making obedience sincerely His, and ask Him in supplication.
The connection of this verse with this chapter is as follows: although aynamā tuwallū fa-thamma wajhu'llāh [wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah] (i.e., whichever way you turn your face, there is "wajhu'llāh"), nevertheless for worship it is necessary to face some particular direction; so it is as if here the deduction [istinbāṭ] of turning towards the Masjid al-Ḥarām is also being drawn from this verse.
وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : يٰبَنِيْٓ اٰدَمَ خُذُوْا زِيْنَتَكُمْ عِنْدَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍ ـ
(al-Aʿrāf 7:31)
Translation: O children of Adam, O people! Every time you are near the mosque (i.e., go to the mosque), take your adornment (i.e., make yourselves adorned).
Friends! The state of the polytheists [mushrikūn] was that in the Masjid al-Ḥarām not only the men but even the women performed ṭawāf [circumambulation of the Kaʿba] naked. Islam wiped out this ugly custom. Allah the Exalted commanded: when you come to the mosque, come adorned. The lowest degree of "zīna" [adornment] is covering the ʿawra [the parts of the body that must be covered], whose warrant [jawāz] is drawn from this verse. Especially at the time of going to the mosque, where Muslims gather, its importance becomes greater.
Friends! Nowadays Muslims are making neither their appearance nor their dress like that of Muslims. Often it is hard even to tell a man from a woman by appearance. The dress, too, is that same Firangī [European] one. They say that India has become free and the English have left India. I say the English left India, but Englishness has seeped into the blood of every Indian. The purpose of dress is protection from cold and heat and covering the ʿawra. But God bless "fashion" — thanks to it everything has been turned upside down!
It is well known about Ḥaḍrat Ustādh al-ʿUlamāʾ Mawlānā Anwārullāh Ṣāḥib Faḍīlat Jang (may Allah's mercy be upon him) that when he began going to the court of His Highness the Niẓām in royal dress — turban and cloak [ʿabā] — he would likewise perform the prayer at prayer time wearing the turban and cloak. When people asked, he said: When I go before the king of this world in royal dress, how then shall I present myself "without dress" before the Emperor of religion and the world?
There was another elder [buzurg] who had set aside a special garment for prayer. As soon as he had performed the prayer he would take it off and put it away. He took great care over this. The regret is that if the Muslims of today do not come to the mosque in their own "uniform", then what will become of them? (By "uniform" is meant the dress, in all its kinds, which is or has been the distinctive mark [shiʿār] of Muslims.) If some servant of Allah does come to the Friday or ʿĪd prayer, it is in that same coat and trousers — or rather shirt and trousers — bareheaded, and he comes and sits in the mosque. He glanced here and there and saw that everyone's head was covered in some way or other, so out of necessity he pulled out a handkerchief and tied it clumsily on his head. Ḥuḍūr ﷺ said: man tashabbaha bi-qawmin fa-huwa minhum (whoever adopts the likeness of a people will be counted among them). A soldier cannot join his unit (regiment) without the correct dress. Dress is a big matter; if a button is not straight, the belt is not right, or any part of the dress is dirty, there are remarks [against him]. A Hindu is not ashamed of his distinctive dhoti; indeed — or at the very least — a Sikh, in whatever corner of the world and whatever civilisation he may be, is not ashamed of his beard and turban. It is only the Muslim who does not even consider it necessary to keep the distinctive marks of Islam in view, whether in prayer or in fasting. Ah, alas! A hundred times alas!! The religion that taught rules and regulations for drinking water — indeed even for breathing — its followers today have won their freedom from all of them.
وَقَالَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰى : اِنَّمَا يَعْمُرُ مَسٰجِدَ اللّٰهِ مَنْ اٰمَنَ بِاللّٰهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْاٰخِرِ وَاَقَامَ الصَّلٰوةَ وَاٰتَى الزَّكٰوةَ وَلَمْ يَخْشَ اِلَّا اللّٰهَ ـ
(al-Tawba 9:18)
Vocabulary: yaʿmuru — builds, keeps populated; lam yakhsha — never feared.
Translation: And Allah the Exalted said: Only that person keeps the mosques of Allah maʿmūr (populated and thriving) who has believed in Allah and the Last Day, and has kept the prayer established (i.e., is regular in it and performs it just as it ought to be performed), and who gave zakāh [the obligatory alms] and feared none except Allah.
فِيْ سُوْرَةِ الْفَاتِحَةِ : اِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَاِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِيْنُ ـ اِهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيْمَ ـ
(al-Fātiḥa 1:5–6)
Translation: In Sūrat al-Fātiḥa it is: We worship You alone, and from You alone we seek help. Guide us on the straight path.
Friends! In the two verses of Sūrat al-Fātiḥa above, naʿbudu, nastaʿīnu and ihdinā are plural forms, and it is necessary for every person who prays to recite these verses in every prayer. From this it is apparent that the farḍ prayers ought to be performed in congregation [jamāʿa] only. The importance of the congregation is established from the time of Ḥuḍūr ﷺ, and for the congregation the mosque is important.
عَنْ عُثْمَانَ بْنِ عَفَّانَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُوْلُ
مَنْ بَنٰى لِلّٰهِ مَسْجِدًا بَنَى اللّٰهُ لَهُ مِثْلَهُ فِي الْجَنَّةِ ـ
(Reported by al-Tirmidhī.)
Translation: (It is narrated) from Ḥaḍrat ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allah be pleased with him); he said that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying: "Whoever built a mosque for Allah, Allah (too) built for him (a palace) like it in Paradise."
(Al-Tirmidhī has reported this hadith.)
Friends! In Arabic the past-tense form is used when there is no doubt or uncertainty of any kind about that act taking place in the future. In this hadith too, Allah the Exalted's having a palace built has been expressed in the past tense because Allah's promise is bound to be fulfilled. Breaking a promise (i.e., going against a promise) is not befitting the majesty of Allah: inna'llāha lā yukhlifu al-mīʿād [indeed Allah does not break the promise].
عَنْ اَبِيْ هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ صَلٰوةُ الرَّجُلِ فِي الْجَمَاعَةِ تُضَعَّفُ عَلٰى صَلٰوتِهِ فِيْ بَيْتِهِ وَفِيْ سُوْقِهِ خَمْسًا وَّعِشْرِيْنَ ضِعْفًا وَذٰلِكَ اَنَّهُ اِذَا تَوَضَّاَ فَاَحْسَنَ الْوُضُوْءَ ثُمَّ خَرَجَ اِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ لَا يُخْرِجُهُ اِلَّا الصَّلٰوةُ لَمْ يَخْطُ خَطْوَةً اِلَّا رُفِعَتْ لَهُ بِهَا دَرَجَةٌ وَحُطَّ عَنْهُ بِهَا خَطِيْئَةٌ فَاِذَا صَلّٰى لَمْ تَزَلِ الْمَلٰٓئِكَةُ تُصَلِّيْ عَلَيْهِ مَا دَامَ فِيْ مُصَلَّاهُ ، "اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَيْهِ ، اَللّٰهُمَّ ارْحَمْهُ" ، وَلَا يَزَالُ اَحَدُكُمْ فِيْ صَلَاةٍ مَا انْتَظَرَ الصَّلٰوةَ ـ
(Reported by Muslim; and al-Bukhārī has it with the same meaning.)
Vocabulary: tuḍaʿʿafu — is increased, is multiplied; sūq — market; khamsan wa-ʿishrīna ḍiʿfan — twenty-five (25) times more; tawaḍḍaʾa — he performed wuḍūʾ [ritual ablution]; lam yakhṭu — he did not take a step; khaṭwa — a step, its plural is khuṭuwāt; rafaʿa yarfaʿu rafʿan — to lift; rafuʿa yarfuʿu rifʿatan — to be high, to make high; ḥaṭṭa yaḥuṭṭu ḥaṭṭan — to drop, to take down, to be removed; khaṭīʾa — a fault, a sin, one fault; lam tazal — did not lessen, did not cease (i.e., always); mā dāma — as long as, until that time; muṣallā — prayer-mat, place of prayer.
Translation: (It is narrated) from Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him); he said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: A man's prayer (that is) in congregation is double — compared with his prayer (that is) in his house and in his market — twenty-five (25) times more. And that is because, when he performed wuḍūʾ and performed it well, then set out for the mosque while nothing but the prayer was bringing him out (of the house), he did not put down a single step without his being raised one degree because of it, and one sin of his being removed because of it (that step). Then, when he has prayed, the angels keep sending ṣalawāt [blessings] upon him always (they keep supplicating and keep saying), "O Allah! Send down mercy and blessing upon him; O Allah! Have mercy on him." And as long as any one of you
is waiting for the prayer, he is in prayer. (That is, whatever reward there would be for remaining in prayer for so long, he will get that same reward for remaining in wait for the prayer.)
(Muslim has reported this hadith in these words, and in al-Bukhārī too this hadith is narrated with the same meaning.)
Friends! In this hadith the prayer of the house and the prayer of the market are mentioned in comparison with the prayer of the congregation. This further strengthens our argument that the farḍ prayers ought to be performed in congregation only, and that is why the plural forms iyyāka naʿbudu, nastaʿīnu and ihdinā have come. The real prayer is in fact the farḍ prayer. The sunna and nafl prayers are there so that their reward, added together, may bring one to a good degree — just as the marks of optional subjects ("Optionals") help a student to succeed with a good and distinguished grade. So the person praying should also pray the sunna and nafl together with the farḍ. He should perform wuḍūʾ calmly, take care of the purity of his clothes and of the place of prayer, and, keeping clear of idle whisperings [waswasa] and scattered thoughts at the time of performing the prayer, perform the prayer with fear and awe [khashya], as one present before Allah. The farḍ that is performed in congregation has a reward 25 times greater. Likewise, the more worshippers there are in the congregation, the more the measure of reward increases. The importance of the congregation is also because the Muslims of the neighbourhood gather in the mosque five times and come to know one another's circumstances. On Friday the weekly gathering takes place in the Jāmiʿ Masjid. Twice a year the annual conference takes place at the ʿĪdgāh. And at least once in a lifetime the international Islamic congress is held in the holy land of the Ḥaramayn Sharīfayn [the two Sacred Sanctuaries], and with such order and discipline that its like is impossible to find in the world. From this the importance of centrality [markaziyyat] in Islam becomes apparent.
وَعَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ صَلَاةٌ فِيْ مَسْجِدِيْ هٰذَا خَيْرٌ مِنْ اَلْفِ صَلَاةٍ فِيْ مَا سِوَاهُ اِلَّا الْمَسْجِد الْحَرَام ـ
(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)
Translation: This hadith too (has been narrated) from Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him). He said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Prayer in this mosque of mine is better than a thousand prayers in (mosques) other than it, except the Masjid al-Ḥarām (the Kaʿba, the House of Allah, the Noble).
(The two Shaykhs [al-Bukhārī and Muslim] have also reported it.)
وَعَنْ اَبِيْ سَعِيْدِ الْخُدْرِيِّ ؓ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ـ "لَا تُشَدُّ الرِّحَالُ اِلَّا اِلٰى ثَلٰثَةِ مَسَاجِدَ ، اَلْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَمَسْجِدِيْ هٰذَا وَالْمَسْجِدِ الْاَقْصٰى ـ
(Al-Tirmidhī said: This hadith is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.)
Vocabulary: lā tushaddu — are not to be bound; riḥāl — mounts, departure, stages of a journey — plural of raḥl [saddle]; aqṣā — far, distant, at the edge.
al-Masjid al-Aqṣā — the mosque of Bayt al-Maqdis [Jerusalem], which is in Palestine. Since it is a considerable distance from the Kaʿba, the House of Allah, the Noble, its name came to be "al-Masjid al-Aqṣā", i.e. the very distant mosque.
Translation: (It is narrated) from Ḥaḍrat Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him); he said that the Messenger of God ﷺ said: "Mounts are not to be bound (or: shall not be bound) except towards three mosques: (towards) the Masjid al-Ḥarām, (towards) this mosque of mine, and (in the direction of) the Masjid al-Aqṣā."
(Imām al-Tirmidhī said this hadith is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.)
عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهَا قَالَتْ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ـ وَجِّهُوْا هٰذِهِ الْبُيُوْتَ عَنِ الْمَسْجِدِ ، فَاِنِّيْ لَا اُحِلُّ الْمَسْجِدَ لِحَائِضٍ وَّلَا جُنُبٍ ـ
(Reported by Abū Dāwūd, and its chain is ḥasan.)
Vocabulary: wajjihū — it is a plural imperative form: turn, face [something towards]. But when the particle ʿan comes [after it], the meaning changes: wajjihū ʿan — turn the face away, turn [it] around. In the same way the meaning of "raghiba" is "desired, wished for"; but when the particle ʿan comes with this verb, its meaning changes: raghiba ʿan — lost interest in, refused. lā uḥillu — I do not make lawful, I do not consider it right; ḥāʾiḍ — a woman whose menses [ḥayḍ] are flowing. In Arabic this word is itself feminine; a man does not, after all, have menses, so "ḥāʾiḍa" is not said — though in Urdu one does say ḥāʾiḍa. junub — junubī, one who has a necessary need of the ghusl [the full ritual bath].
Translation: (It is narrated) from Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾisha al-Ṣiddīqa (may Allah be pleased with her); she said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Turn the fronts (the doors) of these houses away from the mosque to the other side, because I do not make (entry into) the mosque lawful for a woman in menses or for a junubī (I do not consider it permissible).
Friends! The houses which the Companions had built around the Masjid al-Nabawī [the Prophet's Mosque] had their doors towards the inside of the mosque, for the convenience of coming into the mosque. And when the door of any house opens into the mosque, it is unavoidable for those coming into and going out of the house that, in whatever state they may be, they pass through the mosque itself. Therefore he ﷺ gave the command that the doors of all those houses around the mosque which were inside the mosque be closed and their doors be set up facing the other way. However, he let the door of the house of Sayyidunā [Abū Bakr] al-Ṣiddīq al-Akbar (may Allah be pleased with him) remain. Accordingly, to this day, as a memorial of the house of Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, the first Caliph, there is "Bāb Abī Bakr" by name on the right-hand side, i.e. the western side, of the Masjid al-Nabawī, where the gate called "Bāb al-Raḥma" is; next to it there is also "Bāb Abī Bakr". His house came within the extension [of the mosque]; only the name of the door remained. The qibla direction of the Masjid al-Nabawī is towards the south.
(Abū Dāwūd has reported this hadith, and its chain is "ḥasan".)
وَعَنْ جَابِرٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ "مَنْ اَكَلَ مِنْ هٰذِهِ الشَّجَرَةِ الْمُنْتِنَةِ فَلَا يَقْرَبَنَّ مَسْجِدَنَا فَاِنَّ الْمَلٰٓئِكَةَ تَتَاَذّٰى مِمَّا يَتَاَذّٰى مِنْهُ الْاِنْسُ ـ
(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)
Vocabulary: akala yaʾkulu aklan wa-maʾkalan — to eat; al-muntina — foul-smelling; tataʾadhdhā — feel discomfort, feel hurt; adhā, adhiyya — discomfort, harm.
Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him); he said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Whoever eats something of this foul-smelling plant [literally, tree], let him not come near our mosque, because the angels too feel discomfort from those things from which human beings feel discomfort.
(The two Shaykhs [al-Bukhārī and Muslim] have reported this hadith.)
Friends! By "the foul-smelling plant" is meant the garlic plant. That is, whoever eats garlic, Ḥuḍūr ﷺ forbade him from entering the mosque. The smell of garlic is extremely sharp, bad and pungent. Two things are made evident by this prohibition:
1. How refined the blessed nature of Ḥuḍūr, the Noble Prophet ﷺ, was, that even the smell of garlic was disagreeable to him.
2. Angels keep descending in the mosque. In the Masjid al-Ḥarām, seventy thousand angels always come down and perform the ṭawāf of the House of the Kaʿba. When they complete their ṭawāf, a second congregation of angels comes down in their place, and this congregation goes up. In this way, night and day, for twenty-four hours, the angels descend continuously. Just as on earth ṭawāf is made around the Kaʿba, in the same way directly above this building of the Kaʿba, in the heaven, is "al-Bayt al-Maʿmūr", and there too, in the same way, groups of angels are occupied in ṭawāf. And in the same way the angels also descend in the Masjid al-Nabawī, and their groups keep presenting the gift of durūd and salām [blessings and greetings of peace] at the Most Pure Resting-place [al-Rawḍa al-Aṭhar] of Ḥuḍūr Akram ﷺ. Group after group of angels keeps coming and going in turn. In the ordinary mosques too, whenever there is the remembrance of Allah [dhikr], the Qurʾān, hadith and religious remembrances, congregations of angels keep descending.
عَنْ اَنَسٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ : قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عُرِضَتْ عَلَيَّ اُجُوْرُ اُمَّتِيْ حَتَّى الْقَذَاةُ يُخْرِجُهَا الرَّجُلُ مِنَ الْمَسْجِدِ ـ
(Reported by Abū Dāwūd and others, and Ibn Khuzayma declared it ṣaḥīḥ.)
Vocabulary: ʿuriḍat — was presented; ʿalayya — to me; ʿuriḍat ʿalayya ujūru — the wages, the rewards, were presented before me. When a broken plural [jamʿ mukassar] (ujūr) comes, the verb is brought in the feminine singular. ujūr — the plural of ajr; because the letters of ajr were not kept as they were, but a wāw was inserted between the "j" and the "r" and it was broken, i.e. made "mukassar" [broken]. In contrast, muslim — muslimūn: in this plural the word "muslim" is kept as it is and "ūn" is added; in it the word "muslim" is preserved intact. Such a plural is called a sound plural [jamʿ sālim]. al-qadhāt, qadhā — rubbish, dirt, fine dust.
Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: The rewards of my Umma were presented before me — even the reward of that bit of rubbish which a man removes from the mosque.
(Abū Dāwūd and others have reported this hadith, and Ibn Khuzayma has called it ṣaḥīḥ.)
Friends! Even sweeping rubbish and dirt out of the mosque or the mosque courtyard earns reward. And that is presented for the inspection of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and is entered in the records of deeds of us servants. When the recompense and reward of such small deeds of the sinful Umma are presented before him ﷺ and the Master inspects them, then it ought to be our duty too to perform such deeds whose reward is presented for his inspection and can become a cause of his pleasure.
A hadith is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Ghawth al-Aʿẓam (may Allah have mercy on him): [reading uncertain]
لَا يُشَاكُ اَحَدُكُمْ بِشَوْكَةٍ اِلَّا وَاَجِدُ اَلَمَهَا
Translation: No thorn pricks your foot but that I feel its pain.
Allah Himself says:
لَقَدْ جَآءَكُمْ رَسُوْلٌ مِّنْ اَنْفُسِكُمْ عَزِيْزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُّمْ
(al-Tawba 9:128) [reading uncertain]
("Indeed there has come to you a Messenger from among yourselves, to whom all those things that cause you hardship are grievous and hard to bear.") What does this mean? Unless the Prophet ﷺ is aware of our condition, how would our hardships weigh heavily upon his noble person? Alas, some dry-tempered, uncouth gentlemen display their narrow-mindedness, like the bat which, unable to bear the light of the sun, begins to curse it.
(Persian verse:) "If the bat's eye cannot see by day, what is the fault of the sun's fountain?"
(If by day the bat's eye does not see it, what fault is that of the sun's fountain of light?)
It is a point to ponder. A thorn pricks our foot here, and before we even feel the hurt of that prick, it reaches the Mercy of the Two Worlds ﷺ there. How these wireless messages arrive in an instant — ask those who possess this wireless system, and in whom it is switched on.
(Verse:) "Just see the pull of Majnūn's perfect love: here the thought took shape, and there Laylā set out."
Friend! On this path of love become a Majnūn, and Laylā will come of herself.
The mosque, which is in reality the house of Allah, is a place deserving great reverence. As long as one remains there, one should keep listening to the words of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, to religious questions, and to the meanings of the Qurʾān and hadith being read. One should keep away from the absurd, foolish talk and wrong conversation of the world, from idle gossip, jesting and backbiting (ghība).
عَنْ اَبِيْ قَتَادَةَ الْاَسْلَمِيِّ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ : اَنَّ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ اِذَا دَخَلَ اَحَدُكُمُ الْمَسْجِدَ فَلْيَرْكَعْ رَكْعَتَيْنِ
(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)
Translation: Ḥaḍrat Abū Qatāda al-Aslamī (may Allah be pleased with him) [narrates] that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: When any one of you enters the mosque, he should pray two rakʿas [units of prayer]. (Reported by the two Shaykhs, al-Bukhārī and Muslim.) [reading uncertain]
This prayer is called "Ṣalāt Taḥiyyat al-Masjid" [the prayer of greeting the mosque].
وَعَنْ اَبِيْ حُمَيْدٍ وَ اَبِيْ اُسَيْدٍ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُمَا قَالَ قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
اِذَا دَخَلَ اَحَدُكُمُ الْمَسْجِدَ فَلْيَقُلْ : "اَللّٰهُمَّ افْتَحْ لِيْ اَبْوَابَ رَحْمَتِكَ" وَ اِذَا خَرَجَ فَلْيَقُلْ "اَللّٰهُمَّ اِنِّيْ اَسْئَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ"
(Reported by Muslim.)
Translation: Ḥaḍrat Abū Ḥumayd and Ḥaḍrat Abū Usayd (may Allah be pleased with them) narrate; both of them said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: When any one of you enters the mosque he should say "Allāhumma-ftaḥ lī abwāba raḥmatik" (O Allah! Open for me the doors of Your mercy), and when he comes out of the mosque he should say "Allāhumma innī asʾaluka min faḍlik" (O Allah! I ask You of Your bounty). (Reported by Ḥaḍrat [Imām] Muslim.)
عَنْ اَبِيْ هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ : اَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ لَا تَمْنَعُوْا اِمَاءَ اللّٰهِ مَسَاجِدَ اللّٰهِ وَلْيَخْرُجْنَ تَفِلَاتٍ
(Reported by Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Khuzayma, and its chain of transmission is ḥasan [good].)
Vocabulary: ama — slave-girl, maidservant; imāʾ — its plural; tafl — spittle; tafilāt — plain and unkempt (i.e., without applying perfume, without fragrance).
Translation: Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Noble Prophet ﷺ said: Do not prevent the maidservants of Allah from the mosques of Allah; and they (i.e., the women who come) should come in plain, everyday clothes (i.e., they should not come adorned and dressed in finery, nor wearing fragrance and perfume. "Plain clothes" means the ordinary dress that women wear about the house). (Reported by Imām Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Khuzayma, and its chain of transmission is ḥasan [good].)
عَنْ عَائِشَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهَا قَالَتْ : لَوْ اَدْرَكَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَا اَحْدَثَ النِّسَآءُ لَمَنَعَهُنَّ الْمَسْجِدَ كَمَا مُنِعَتْ نِسَآءُ بَنِيْ اِسْرَآئِيْلَ
(Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)
Vocabulary: adraka — he found; law adraka — had he found; iḥdāth — to introduce something new; aḥdatha — introduced something new.
Translation: Umm al-Muʾminīn [Mother of the Believers] Sayyida ʿĀʾisha Ṣiddīqa (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates that she said: "Had the Noble Prophet ﷺ found (i.e., seen) these conditions which the women have brought about (i.e., the custom they have adopted of laxity in ḥijāb and display of adornment), he ﷺ would have prevented them from going to the mosque, just as the women of the Banū Isrāʾīl were prevented." (Reported by the two Shaykhs, al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)
Friends! What did Bībī ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her) say? (That is, the purpose of her words is this:) the means to the ḥarām [forbidden] is ḥarām, the means to the wājib [obligatory] is wājib, the means to the sunna is sunna, and the means to the makrūh [disliked] is makrūh (a principle of uṣūl al-fiqh, the principles of jurisprudence). She has drawn attention to the new things that have been introduced.
Prayer is farḍ [obligatory], and performing wuḍūʾ [ritual ablution] is its preliminary means; therefore wuḍūʾ too is farḍ. Everything without which the original thing cannot come about carries the same ruling as the original.
The preliminary to shamelessness — drawing men's attention towards oneself — is ḥarām. For this reason its preliminary, wearing perfume, is ḥarām.
Friends! In the time of the Accepted Messenger ﷺ, women had permission to pray in the Prophet's Mosque (al-Masjid al-Nabawī). But let it be remembered that the Prophet ﷺ had set apart the left-hand section of the Prophet's Mosque for those women's coming and going and for the performance of their prayer. The door for their coming and going was also separate, called "Bāb al-Nisāʾ" [the Women's Gate]; it still stands today and that door exists. Men did not have permission [to use] this door. Further, as has passed in the hadith of Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him), the Prophet ﷺ had permitted them to come in plain, ordinary clothes — not with adornment and with shortcomings in ḥijāb.
After the Noble Prophet ﷺ, Islam spread day by day. Besides Arabia, non-Muslims in ʿAjam [non-Arab lands] too kept entering Islam in throngs, and the atmosphere also changed. Gauging these conditions, Ḥaḍrat Fārūq-e-Aʿẓam ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) stopped women from going to the mosque. At that time Umm al-Muʾminīn Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾisha Ṣiddīqa (may Allah be pleased with her) spoke the very words recorded above. She made it clear that the conditions were no longer those of the era of the Noble Prophet ﷺ; therefore ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) did well in shutting the door of fitna [trial and mischief]. Had the Prophet ﷺ himself seen these conditions, he would have forbidden women from entering the mosque. This wise utterance was made by Bībī ʿĀʾisha (may Allah be pleased with her). It is obvious that only a woman can rightly assess the circumstances of a woman. After the prohibition of Amīr al-Muʾminīn Ḥaḍrat ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him), the women had complained to Bībī ʿĀʾisha herself; but the Mother of the Believers fulfilled the true duty of her motherhood.
Muslims! After the Prophet ﷺ, Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) carried out the duties of the khilāfa for about three years. After him Ḥaḍrat ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) became khalīfa. At most this whole period could be fifteen or twenty years. (That is, after women received the Prophet's ﷺ permission,) the conditions that changed in this interval — Ḥaḍrat ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) perceived them and imposed the prohibition. And yet that era was Khayr al-Qurūn [the best of generations]; the Companions of the first rank were still present. Out of fear of the "dirra of ʿUmar" (i.e., Ḥaḍrat ʿUmar's whip), satanic forces had vanished. Even so, Ḥaḍrat ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) forbade it. From what? From coming to the house of God and performing the prayer!
Those who today raise an uproar against women's purdah [veiling] should reflect on this a little. In reality it was men who raised the hue and cry, in order to make innocent, simple women into their plaything. The women were unaware of these tricks and fell into their snare. They took the men to be their well-wishers and did not consider the consequences that would follow. So what then? Shayṭān succeeded. It is true that not every woman who opposes purdah is of loose character; but just consider how fire and straw can safely be kept together! What Ḥaḍrat ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) in his own time considered necessary as a barrier against fitna — today even non-Muslims are compelled to applaud that farsightedness. Today the thinkers of Europe and America are lamenting the evil effects of unveiling. Ah! How well the late Akbar (Allahabadi) said:
(Verse:) "Who has sent this tearer of veils towards the nation, whose debate has wounded every heart? If this is the progress of civilisation, then one day they will declare the trouser-drawstring to be 'wrongful confinement'."
This faqīr [i.e., the author] too had written some verses on the subject of purdah, which outwardly are satirical but for the seeing eye are realities. Among them are these few verses:
(Verses:) "The bridegroom's choosing [of a bride] is done at the cinema — the difficulties of marriage are now removed. No purdah from the chauffeur, no purdah from the butler — and the ayah [nursemaid] too is pampered. If [others] smell a flower of your garden, what is wrong with that? This is only broad-mindedness. There you are happy, here we are happy too — these are the delights of freedoms. Each one, surely, is his mother's son — beyond that, it rests on God's covering of faults. Everyone's braids have been cut at the hands of fashion — now the preparations are only for the cutting of the nose [i.e., utter disgrace]. The spectacles of the cinema burn away modesty — these are the showering sparks of God's wrath. God forbid! God forbid! What ignorance is this, what wrongdoings are these?"
(Ḥasrat Ṣiddīqī)
عَنْ اَبِيْ هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ : قَالَ رَسُوْلُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ اِذَا اُقِيْمَتِ الصَّلٰوةُ فَلَا تَاْتُوْهَا وَاَنْتُمْ تَسْعَوْنَ وَلٰكِنْ اِئْتُوْهَا وَاَنْتُمْ تَمْشُوْنَ وَعَلَيْكُمُ السَّكِيْنَةَ فَمَا اَدْرَكْتُمْ فَصَلُّوْا وَمَا فَاتَكُمْ فَاَتِمُّوْا
(Reported by al-Tirmidhī.)
Vocabulary: idhā uqīmat — when it is established, when it stands [begins] (ṣalāh is feminine in Arabic, hence the feminine verb "uqīmat" is used; in Arabic, words ending in "ة" are feminine); lā taʾtūhā — do not come to it; tasʿawna — second person plural present-future, from saʿā yasʿā saʿyan — to strive, to run; here it means walking fast. Sometimes "saʿy" also comes in the sense of [simply] going, as in the saying of the Exalted in the Qurʾān Majīd: اِذَا نُوْدِيَ لِلصَّلٰوةِ مِنْ يَّوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا اِلٰى ذِكْرِ اللّٰهِ (Sūrat al-Jumuʿa [62:9]) — when the adhān [call to prayer] is given for prayer on the day of Jumuʿa, then set off towards the remembrance of God; wa-ʿalaykumu-s-sakīna — calmness and composure are binding upon you. The tāʾ [of sakīna] carries a fatḥa because it is the object: in reality it is ilzamū al-sakīna, i.e., hold fast to calmness and tranquillity; that is why the tāʾ is maftūḥ (has a fatḥa). Otherwise, if it were treated as subject and predicate (mubtadaʾ and khabar), the tāʾ of al-sakīna would be maḍmūm (would have a ḍamma).
Translation: It is narrated from Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "When the prayer is being held, do not come to it (i.e., for it) running; rather come walking, in such a way that you are dignified and calm. Then whatever [part] you get, pray it, and whatever you have missed, complete it (i.e., after the imām turns with the salām)." (Reported by al-Tirmidhī.)
Friends! Reverence for the mosque is very necessary; it is the house of Allah. Not the slightest disrespect should occur there. Worldly talk and pointless chatter must never take place. Especially, once the congregation has stood up, latecomers should join quietly, lifting their feet gently. Arriving with a clatter disturbs all the worshippers of the congregation; therefore it is forbidden. And this precaution too is necessary: once the congregation has stood up in the mosque, latecomers should take full care. Some people, while making wuḍūʾ in the mosque — usually at the Fajr prayer — first wash their face and then, putting their fingers in their throat, expel bile with loud noises. This practice is contrary to reverence for the mosque, especially when some people in the mosque are praying sunna prayers or are occupied in reciting the Qurʾān Majīd. The better way is to make wuḍūʾ at home and then set out (as has passed in the hadith that at every step a good deed is gained and a sin is forgiven), and to set out after performing at home the sunna prayers that precede the farḍ.
Another precaution is also necessary: if the imām is in rukūʿ [bowing], then after making the intention (one may make the intention of [joining] the congregation while approaching it), one should stand for a little while after the takbīr al-taḥrīma [opening "Allāhu akbar"] — pausing (at least) for as long as one tasbīḥ of rukūʿ or sajda. This is the qiyām [standing], and qiyām is farḍ. If after that one does not get the chance to join in the rukūʿ, one completes this rakʿa afterwards. But by going straight into rukūʿ while saying the takbīr al-taḥrīma, the qiyām, which was farḍ, has been omitted; hence the prayer will be invalid and will have to be performed again.