Building a community around the masjid

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

Importance of the Masjid

Did you know that having love for one another is a part of your imaan?

The Prophet ﷺ said: “By Him in Whose Hand my soul is! You will not enter Jannah until you believe, and you shall not believe until you love one another. May I inform you of something, if you do, you love each other. Promote greeting amongst you (by saying As-salamu ‘Alaikum to one another)“. (Abu Dāwud) 

I felt encouraged to write about the importance of creating a community through the masjid when I noticed how unwilling people were to interact with their Muslim brothers and sisters whom they did not know. I believe we, the people of the west, have forgotten how to be a community. We’ve reached a point in our society where we are constantly told about the importance of an individualistic society. People have been made to isolate themselves and the more people chase the individualistic ideal, the lonelier and more depressed people get. Allah created humans to be social beings, meaning, we need people. We need each other in all aspects of life and Islam tells us that. The importance of forming ties is constantly reiterated in the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Allah says in Surah al-Hujurāt: “O mankind! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes, that you may know one another [not that on account of this you may boast of being superior to others]. Certainly, the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the most God-fearing among you” (49:13)

Allah also said in Surah al-Furqān: “And it is He who has created from water a human being, and made him [a relative by] lineage and marriage.” (25:54)

Ultimately the best place to form these ties is the masjid where you’re most likely to meet people who’ll love you for the sake of Allah, who’d encourage you to be better for the sake of Allah. You’ll meet people who will constantly urge you to go back to the masjid and as a result, you’ll more likely stay in the remembrance of Allah. Just going to the masjid frequently could be what keeps you in the shade of Allah on a day when there is no shade except His. The Prophet ﷺ told us that one of the seven people that will be under the shade of Allah is “a man whose heart is attached to the mosque” but also “two persons who love each other only for Allah’s sake and they meet and part in Allah’s cause only” (Bukhari)

My personal experience 

Personally, the longest friendships I’ve had have been from the masjid. Those friends have also been the greatest friendships that I’ve ever had and will ever have. The best thing about a friendship in the masjid is that all the doubt that comes from being someone’s friend disappears because it’s all for the sake of Allah. The fear you feel about what you should do and what you should say goes because ultimately every interaction and action you do becomes for Allah. That’s the way we should be navigating all relationships. It should be for the sake of Allah and the way you behave should be for the sake of Allah. This makes all relationships easier and all relationships better.

I say this all from experience. For most of my life, I struggled with staying secure in friendships which resulted in me slowly distancing myself from those friendships. It was due to nothing more than the insecurities I felt in those relationships. I noticed the change in the way I interacted with people when I changed the reason I interacted with people. I started small. Abu Dharr narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said:

“Your smiling in the face of your brother is charity” (Tirmidhi).

I always knew that but never implemented it. Hearing ‘smiling is sunnah’ isn’t uncommon but actually putting it into practice has become a concept that people don’t familiarise themselves with. Smiling at Muslims in the street for the sake of Allah boosted my confidence. It wasn’t because I was getting smiled back at, because I definitely wasn’t, nor was it because I was getting better at being okay with it, however, it was because I felt happier and more motivated doing things for the sake of Allah – knowing they had purpose. The next thing was saying salaam whenever I saw a Muslim.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Verily, peace (As-Salam) is among the names of Allah he has placed on the earth, so spread it between yourselves. If a man greets people with peace and they answer him, he is favoured a degree over them as he has reminded them. If they do not answer him, he is answered by angels who are better and purer than them.” (Tabarāni)

I did this purely for the sake of Allah and purely for the increase in rewards. It didn’t matter to me that it wasn’t always returned. It didn’t matter to me that sometimes odd looks were thrown in my direction. Alhamdulillah, inside the masjid, it was always returned. This small action made me feel like I was building a community around me. I started becoming familiar with more people and started getting closer to them. One thing that I adore about our masjid is that when you talk to people, they’re always ready to welcome you. They talk to you like you’ve always known each other and you only feel love for them for the sake of Allah. This is the beauty of the masjid and this is the beauty of finding your community within it.

Lessons from the Prophet ﷺ

Masjid Quba today

The Prophet ﷺ built the first masjid, Masjid Quba, on the outskirts of Medina. The point of it was to bring people together so they could worship Allah together. Islam emphasises the importance of the community constantly. One of the biggest indicators of this is that when the Prophet ﷺ moved to Medina, one of the first things he did was pair the Muhajirin (Immigrants from Makkah) with the Ansar (Helpers from Medina) and label them brothers. This had a greater reason behind it but it was mostly to integrate the people and create a community. The Prophet ﷺ established this brotherhood in the house of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him). He brought together 90 men, half from the Ansar and half from the Muhajirin. Prophet Muhammed ﷺ formed a brotherhood between them, due to which each one had to help his brother, to the extent that the two new brothers could inherit from each other. But this condition was later abrogated with Allah’s saying,

“But, according to the Book of Allah, the blood relations have a greater right on one another” (33:6). 

Although the intention behind it was to help integrate the Muhajirin into the new society, we could all learn from it. We can learn the importance of helping and loving each other for the sake of Allah. We can learn to see each other as more than strangers but rather as a family who can help each other deepen our imaan and remind each other of why we are Muslims.

Allah says in Surah Āli-‘Imrān “Hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. Remember the favour of Allah upon you, when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became brothers by his favour” (3:103).

One of the qualities that the Prophet ﷺ told us pleases Allah is holding onto the rope altogether and not dividing. We’re supposed to take the companions as an example and behave similarly. The masjid already provides the means by which we can meet each other, now all we have to do is say salam.

One of my favourite stories is the hadith narrated by Abu Idris Al-Khaulani (May Allah have mercy upon him). He reported: “I once entered the mosque in Damascus. I happened to catch sight of a young man who had bright teeth (i.e., he was always seen smiling). A number of people had gathered around him. When they differed over anything they would refer to him and act upon his advice. I asked who he was and I was told that he was Mu’adh bin Jabal (May Allah be pleased with him). The next day I hastened to the mosque but found that he had arrived before me and was busy performing Salat. I waited until he finished, and then went to him from the front, greeted him with salam and said to him, “By Allah I love you.” He asked, “For the sake of Allah?” I replied, “Yes, for the sake of Allah”. He again asked me, “Is it for Allah’s sake?” I replied, “Yes, it is for Allah’s sake.” Then he took hold of my cloak, drew me to himself and said, “Rejoice!, I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying, ‘Allah, the Exalted, says: My love is due to those who love one another for My sake, meet one another for My sake, visit one another for My sake and spend in charity for My sake” (Muwatta). They had a love for each other before they even knew each other, and the only reason for that was Islam. 

The Prophet ﷺ also mentioned to us that one of the qualities a person needs to have in order to attain the sweetness of faith is to be someone “who loves a person and he loves him only for the sake of Allah” (Bukhari). I honestly love these stories so much and find them to be so beautiful. May Allah make us more like them and allow us to love each other for the sake of Allah.

I love you all for the sake of Allah and I ask Allah to allow us all to act on what we learn from the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions.