Where did I put my shoes again ?
We have all been there, finished praying at a mosque and thought….hang on where are my shows again. This is one of many thoughts that are unique to people who regularly visit the mosque. For many of us our local mosque holds a special place in our hearts. We not only offer our prayers there but it is the place where we interact with the widest spectrum of our community. We see the elders who always make the front row before us, the young children playing with their friends and everything else in between. But have you ever wondered why mosques are held in such high regard in our religion ? why is it that when we travel for work or pleasure we miss our local mosque ? why is it that many of us travel to Saudi and visit the two greatest mosques ?
A close friend from the middle east once said to me that there are two constants across the the whole world with respect to muslims and the mosque. One, In any mosque you visit Al-Fatiha will be recited and you will immediately feel at ease with your surroundings and the local area. Two, shoes are thrown all over the place.
In this post we will briefly discuss the importance of mosques, which are the greatest mosques and why do they hold such a important position in our religion
Regarding any matter in Islam we refer to the Quran and Hadith for guidance first.
Abdullah (b. Mas'ud) reported: He who likes to meet Allah tomorrow as Muslim, he should persevere in observing these prayers, when a call is announced for them, for Allah has laid down for your Prophet the paths of right guidance, and these (prayers) are among the paths of right guidance. If you were to pray in your houses as this man why stays away (from the mosque) prays in his house, you would abandon the practice of your Prophet, and if you were to abandon the practice of your Prophet, you would go astray. No man purifies himself, doing it well, then makes for one of those mosques without Allah recording a blessing for him for every step he takes raising him a degree for it, and effacing a sin from him for it. I have seen the time when no one stayed away from it, except a hypocrite, who was well known for his hypocrisy, whereas a man would be brought swaying (due to weakness) between two men till he was set up in a row. [Sahih Muslim, Book 5, Hadith 324]
So who of us wants to stray away from the path of our beloved Prophet (SAW) ? The hadith goes even further, imagine the mercy of Allah SWT….every step we take we not only get rewarded but also a bad deed is also erased from our records.
If you asked any muslim I am sure they could all name the 3 important mosque. Try it yourself ?……and the answer is Masjid Al-Haram, Masjid Al-Nabawi and Masjid Al-Aqsa. But can you give the proof ? or reward for praying in each of these mosques ? thats a slightly harder question. So lets start with the evidence.
Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) reported it directly from Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) that he said: Do not undertake journey but to three mosques: this mosque of mine, the Mosque of al-Haram and the Mosque of Aqsa (Bait al-Maqdis). [Sahih Muslim, Book 15, Hadith 588, Chapter 95 The virtue of the Three Masjid]
The hadith above is very clear and needs no further explanation. Lets now look at the slightly more complicated question of the reward for praying in each of the mosques. The reward for praying in Masjid Al-Haram is 100,00 equivalent to prayers offered elsewhere whereas in Masjid Al-Nabawi it is equal to 1,000 elsewhere. This is confirmed by the hadith below
It was narrated from Jabir that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “One prayer in my mosque is better than one thousand prayers elsewhere, except the Sacred Mosque, and one prayer in the Sacred Mosque is better than one hundred thousand prayers elsewhere.” [Sunan Ibn Majah, Establishing the Prayer and the Sunnah Regarding Them, Vol 1, Book 5, Hadith 1406]
I haven’t been able to track down a Sahih Hadith regarding the reward for praying Masjid Al-Aqsa unfortunately. If you have, then please share below and I can update this entry accordingly.
Our religion not places such high importance on mosques but also rewards us accordingly. As muslims in the west it might not be easy but we should aim to centre our daily routine close to a mosque, not only is this to safeguard our obligatory prayers but also the quality of our prayers. Lets face it, once you get past the shoes being everywhere we tend to have better concentration when praying inside the mosque.
