Mosques

Family: Institutions and organisations · 9 entries

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Entries on this theme

Event

• The building of the Prophet's Mosque

  c. 27 September 622 CE · Rabi' I 1 AHSoon after arriving in Medina, the Prophet and his companions built a mosque and living quarters on a plot of land, a model for later mosques.

• The last sermon from the minbar

  c. 25 May 632 CE · 7 Rabi' I 11 AHFive days before his death the Prophet, head bandaged, sat on the minbar and warned against taking graves as places of worship, offered himself to retaliation for any wrong, counselled generosity toward the Ansar 'accept from their well-doer and overlook their wrongdoer', spoke of a servant who chose what is with God, and ordered every door into the mosque shut except Abu Bakr's.

• Abu Bakr leads the prayers during the final illness

  c. 26 May 632 CE · 8 Rabi' I 11 AHWhen the illness grew too heavy for the Prophet to come out, he sent word that Abu Bakr should lead the people; Abu Bakr led seventeen prayers, the Prophet once joined him sitting at his left, and Sunni tradition reads the appointment as a sign of Abu Bakr's standing.

Building

• The Jami' al-Qati'a of Baghdad

  The congregational mosque built by Muhdhib al-Dawla 'Ali b. Nasr at the Qati'a in Baghdad in 379 — the same year he also restored the watering-places at Wasit at a cost of six thousand.

• The mosque of Qati'at Umm Ja'far

  A mosque at Qati'at Umm Ja'far in western Baghdad: in 379 a woman of the eastern side dreamt that she would die the next afternoon and that the mosque stood in that quarter with a handprint set in its qibla wall; they went to the spot, found the trace of the palm, and she died as foretold. The mosque was then built and enlarged by the sharif Abu Ahmad al-Musawi, who obtained al-Ta'i''s leave to make it a congregational mosque — arguing that the moat made the place a separate town — and Friday prayers were established there.

Concept

• Naqsh (engraving and decoration)

  Naqsh, in the lexicon, is a trace or mark, or colouring a thing with two or more colours; it is wider than tazwiq and zakhrafa, and every seal is an engraving. A ruler is recommended to have an engraved ring; most jurists allow engraving the owner's name, the Hanbalis dislike engraving the divine name, and the Hanafis forbid pictures. Most jurists dislike engraving the mosque; the Hanafis, some Malikis and Shafi'is allow it with light ornament. The Shafi'is and Hanbalis forbid decorating houses with gold and silver as wasteful; the Hanafis and Malikis allow it with conditions. The Shafi'is forbid henna designs on the hand of a woman in ihram, and most jurists dislike writing on graves.

Screening Room

• One Night in Al-Aqsa

  2019 CE · 1440 AH†Abrar Hussain's documentary filmed on Laylat al-Qadr inside al-Aqsa — following Palestinian worshippers, guardians and workers through the holiest night of the year.

• Little Mosque on the Prairie

  A Canadian sitcom about a small Muslim congregation in a Saskatchewan town — among the first Western comedies centred on ordinary Muslim characters.

• Citizen Khan

  Adil Ray's BBC sitcom about a British-Pakistani Muslim family man in Birmingham — the BBC's first Muslim-led sitcom, and an early flashpoint over stereotypes.

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