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Chapter
05:
The Mosque (Hadith -- The
Traditions):
(Note:
The superscript-numbers [e.g., intention2]
that
appear in the text [in
pink]
refer to the numbers of the explanatory footnotes that
appear at the end of each Hadith
[Tradition].)
1
Jabir reported that,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
said:
"I have been granted five
things which were not granted to any one before me:
....... and for me the earth has been made a mosque and a
means of purification; therefore, if prayer overtakes any
person of my community, he should say his prayers
(wherever he is)1........."
( B. 8 : 56.)
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1
According to the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith, a
Muslim does not stand in need of a consecrated
place to say his prayers. Here the whole earth is
called a mosque.
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2
`Uthman ... said, ...
I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah
be on him, say:
"Whoever builds a mosque,
desiring thereby Allah's pleasure, Allah builds for him
the like of it in paradise." (B. 8 : 65.)
3
`Abd Allah ibn `Umar said,
When the people were saying their
morning prayers (in the mosque) at Quba, a man came to them
and said, A portion of the Qur'an has been revealed to the
Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
during the night and he has been commanded to turn his face
towards the Ka`bah; so they turned their faces towards it;
and their faces were towards Syria, so they turned round to
the Ka`bah.2
(B. 8 : 32.)
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2
This hadith shows that a mosque should be built
facing towards the Ka`bah, which according to the
Holy Qur'an, is the first mosque built on the
earth. Before the revelation referred to in this
hadith (v. 2), Muslims used to face towards
Jerusalem which was the qiblah of the Israelite
prophets. It was about sixteen or seventeen months
after the Hijra that the Holy Prophet received the
revelation to make the Ka`bah his qiblah. The idea
underlying the Qiblah is to bring about unity of
purpose. As in a large country the direction of the
Ka`bah would be different in the north from that in
the south, it is stated in a hadith (Ah. I, 223)
that "it is not fit for one country to have two
qiblahs," for different qiblahs in one country
would destroy the very purpose of the
Qiblah.
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4
`Abd Allah ibn `Umar reported that
The Mosque was, in the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace
and blessings of Allah be on him, built of unburnt bricks
and its roof was of palm-boughs resting on columns of the
stems of palm-trees. Abu Bakr did not add anything to it,
and `Umar extended it and built it of unburnt bricks and
palm-boughs, on the foundation on which it was built in the
time of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah
be on him, and made anew its columns of timber. Then `Uthman
changed it, and made in it very large extensions and built
its walls of chiselled stone and mortar and made its pillars
of chiselled stone and its roof of teakwood.
3
(B. 8 : 62.)
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3
The Prophet's Mosque was made of very rough
material. Conditions had changed in `Uthman's time,
as the wealth of the Roman and the Persian empires
had flown to Madinah the capital of Islam. So
`Uthman made it of hewn stone and mortar, but it
was still a simple structure, and such were also
all the mosques built in the great Muslim
centres.
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5
Ibn `Abbas said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"I have not been commanded to
decorate the mosques."
(AD-Msh. 4 :
7.)
6
`Umar ordered the building of the Mosque and said, I give
people shelter from rain; and beware of painting (it) red or
yellow, for thou wilt thus cause people to fall into trial.
(B. 8 : 62.)
7
Anas said,
They will vie with one another (in building mosques), then
they will not visit them but a little. (B. 8 :
62.)
8
`Umar said,
We do not enter your churches on account of the statues on
which are figures. And Ibn `Abbas used to say his prayers in
the church except a church which had statues in it.
(B. 8 : 54.)
9
`A'ishah said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, ordered the building of the mosque in habitations and
that it should be kept clean and perfumed. (AD-Msh. 4 :
7.)
10
Abu Hurairah reported that
A black man or a black woman used to clean the mosque and he
died. The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
asked about him and they said, He is dead. He said, "Why did
you not inform me about him; lead me to his--or, he said,
her--grave." So he came to his grave and offered prayers on
it.4
(B. 8 : 72.)
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4
It shows not only that arrangements were made for
cleaning the mosque, but also that the person who
did this service was specially honoured by the Holy
Prophet. Another hadith shows that it was a woman.
(B. 8: 74.)
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11
Sahl said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, sent message to a woman:
"Tell thy carpenter slave to
make for me (a pulpit of) pieces of wood, on which I may
sit." 5
(B. 8 : 64.)
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5
The pulpit was needed only for the Friday sermon.
The pulpit and the mats formed the only furniture
of the mosque.
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12
Maimunah said,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him used to
pray on the mat. (B. 8 : 21.)
13
Anas said,
We used to say our prayers with the Prophet, peace and
blessings of Allah be on him, and one of us put a corner of
his cloth at the place (where his forehead touched the
ground) in prostration, on account of the severity of
heat.6
(B. 8 : 23.)
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6
This shows that prayers had sometimes to be said on
bare ground.
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14
Bara ibn `Azib said prayers in
congregation in the mosque of his house.7
(B. 8 : 46.)
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7
It shows that a man may have a private mosque of
his own in his house. It can serve the purpose of a
mosque for saying prayers in congregation, but it
does not thereby acquire the character of a mosque
and remains a private place.
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15
Ibn `Umar reported (that) the Prophet, peace and blessings
of Allah be on him, said:
"Say a part of your prayers
in your houses and do not make them graves."
8
(B. 8 : 52.)
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8
It shows that prayers are really meant to be said
in congregation in the mosque, but a part of them,
such as tahajjud or sunnah prayers,
are recommended to be said in houses. A house in
which Allah's name in not remembered is likened to
a grave, because it is devoid of spiritual
life.
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16
Abu Hurairah said,
I saw seventy of the dwellers of the
Suffah,9
and not one of them had an over-garment.
(B. 8 : 58.)
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9
The Suffah was situated in the northern part of the
Mosque, covered with a roof but with open sides.
Here resided those whose object was to study the
Qur'an and the Hadith and their number is said to
have at one time reached four hundred. Among them
were well-to-do people, such as Sa`d ibn Abi
Waqqas, but mostly poor people, such as Abu
Hurairah.
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17
Abu Hurairah said,
The dwellers of the Suffah were guests of Muslims. They had
neither families to lodge with nor any property. (Tr. 81 :
17.)
18
Abu Hurairah said,
I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah
be on him, say:
"Whoever comes to this mosque
of mine, and he does not come but for some good which he
would learn or teach, he is like one who is engaged in
jihad in the way of Allah; and whoever comes for any
purpose other than this, he is like a man who casts looks
at the property of another." 10
(IM-Msh. 4 : 7.)
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10
The mosque was thus a place where everything which
related to the good of the individual or the
community was to be learned or taught, and hence it
became the cultural centre of Islam.
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19
`A'ishah said,
One day I saw the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of
Allah be on him, at the door of my apartment, and the
Abyssinians were sporting in the mosque, and the Messenger
of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, screened
me with his over-garment whilst I saw their
sport.11
(B. 8 : 69.)
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11
The Prophet's Mosque had a very wide open yard
where people gathered together, and where, as many
hadith show, tents were pitched sometimes, and on
one side of which a large number of students were
accommodated. It was in this open court that the
Abyssinians were giving a display of their skill
with spears. `A'ishah's chamber opened into this
yard.
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20
Abu Salmah reported that,
He heard Hassan ibn Thabit calling Abu Hurairah to witness,
I beseech thee by Allah, didst thou hear the Prophet, peace
and blessings of Allah be on him, say:
"O Hassan! Reply on behalf of
the Messenger of Allah; O Allah! help him with the Holy
Spirit."
Abu Hurairah said,
Yes. 12
(B. 8 : 68.)
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12
It is an incident of the time of `Umar. Hassan was
reciting a poem in the mosque when `Umar prohibited
him. On this he called Abu Hurairah to bear witness
that he used to recite poems in the mosque in the
presence of the Holy Prophet. According to a report
in Tr., the Holy Prophet used to ask Hassan to
refute in verse the scurrilous attacks made on the
Holy Prophet by his enemies in their poems, and
this was done in the mosque.
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21
Jabir said,
I came to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, and he was in the mosque . . . at early forenoon time;
he said, "Offer two rak`ahs of prayer"; and he owed me a
debt, so he paid it to me and gave me more than was due. (B.
8 : 59.)
22
`A'ishah said,
ISa'd was wounded in the median vein of the arm in the
battle of Ditch, and the Prophet, peace and blessings of
Allah be on him, ordered a tent to be set up (for him) in
the mosque, so that being near he might visit him
(frequently). (B. 8 : 77.)
23
`A'ishah reported that,
A certain tribe of the Arabs had a black slave-girl whom
they set free.......... Then she accepted Islam. `A'ishah
said, She had a small tent pitched for her in the
mosque.13
(B. 8 : 57.)
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13
A woman could not only enter the mosque but she
could also, if necessary, take up her residence in
the mosque. The putting of a tent for a slave-girl
in the mosque shows that she must have resided
there for a sufficiently long time.
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24
Anas reported that,
A party of the `Ukl came to the Prophet, peace and blessings
of Allah be on him, and they were lodged in the Suffah.
(B. 8 : 58.)
25
Abu Hurairah said,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, sent
some horsemen towards Najd, and they brought a man of Bani
Hanifah, called Thumamah ibn Uthal, and they tied him to one
of the columns of the mosque. 14
(B. 8 : 76.)
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14
Evidently this prisoner was an idolater, yet he was
kept under restraint in the mosque.
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26
Anas said,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, had
some money brought to him from Bahrain. He said, "Put it in
the mosque." And it was the greatest amount of money that
was ever brought to the Messenger of Allah, peace and
blessings of Allah be on him. Then the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings of Allah be on him, came out for prayer
and did not pay any heed to it. When he had finished the
prayer, he came and sat near it, and he did not see any one
but gave him (out of it.) 15
(B. 8 : 42.)
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15
This hadith shows that in the Holy Prophet's time
the mosque served many purposes besides that of
saying prayers. On the present occasion it served
the purpose of the treasury, because there was at
the time no separate treasury. The hadith further
shows how little attraction wealth had for the Holy
Prophet. The money was there, a hundred thousand
dirhams, but he did not even look at it. Neither
did he take one pie of it into his house; nor did
he reserve any portion of it for future
needs.
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27
Sa'ib said,
I was standing in the mosque when some one threw a pebble at
me. I looked at him and it was `Umar ibn al-Khattab, and he
said, Go and bring to me these two (men). So I brought them
to him and he said. Who are you or where do you come from?
They said, We are of the people of Ta'if. He said, If you
had been of the residents of the city, I would have punished
you. Do you raise your voices in the mosque of the Messenger
of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on him? (B. 8 :
83.)
28
Malik said,
`Umar made a courtyard, called the Butaiha', on one side of
the mosque, and said, Whoever intends to talk loudly or
recite poems or raise his voice, let him go to this
courtyard.
(Mt-Msh. 4 :
7.)
29
Anas said,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, said:
"To spit in the mosque is a sin and
its atonement is to bury it." 16
(B. 8 : 37.)
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16
Spitting in the mosque is prohibited, both because
of the sacredness of the place and because it is a
gathering-place for the people. Elsewhere it is
stated that the Holy Prophet was offended when he
saw spittle on the wall of the mosque (IV : 17).
Burying is spoken of here because the floor of the
mosque was of loose gravel.
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30
`A'ishah said,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, said to
me:
"Hand me over the mat from
the mosque."
I said, I am menstruating. He
said:
"Thy menses are not in thy
hand." (M-Msh. 3 : 12.)
31
Abu Hurairah said,
An Arab of the desert stood up and began urinating in the
mosque. People were about to take hold of him but the
Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, said to
them:
"Leave him alone and throw a bucket of
water over his urine, for you have been raised to deal with
people gently and you have not been raised to deal with them
harshly." 17
(B. 4 : 58.)
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17
Being a desert Arab, the man was not aware of the
sacred character of the mosque.
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32
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, prohibited the reciting of poems in the mosque and
selling and buying in it and that people should sit in
circles in the mosque on Friday before
prayers.18
(AD-Msh. 4 :
7.)
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18
As h. 20 shows, the Holy Prophet allowed Hassan to
recite his verses in the mosque, because they were
religious in character. The carrying on of trade in
the mosque is forbidden because it would change the
atmosphere of the mosque into that of a market. The
last prohibition aims at maintaining the serenity
of the prayers. People sitting in groups would
usually indulge in talk which would disturb the
calm and quiet necessary to a prayerful attitude.
And that is the reason why Muslims so strongly
resent noise or music before mosques at the time of
prayers.
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33
Abu Sa`id Khudri said,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
delivered a sermon and said,
"Let no door be left that
should open into the mosque but it should be closed,
except the door of Abu Bakr." 19(B.
8 : 80.)
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19
The doors of the Holy Prophet's apartments opened
into the mosque, and so did those of some other
houses. But later on, all these door were closed so
that the mosque should not be used as a
thoroughfare.
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34
Qurrah reported that,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, forbade the eating of these two plants, i.e., raw
onions and garlic, and said:
"Whoever eats them let him
not approach our mosque." 20
And he said:
"If you eat them unavoidably,
then have their offensive smell destroyed by dressing."
(AD-Msh. 4 : 7.)
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20
So that their noxious stink may not offend
others.
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35
Abu Maslamah said,
I asked Anas ibn Malik, Did
the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, say
his prayers with his shoes on? He said, Yes.
21
(B. 8 : 24.)
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21
This hadith shows that prayers may be said with
shoes on. Hence a man can also go into the mosque
without removing his shoes, but that they must be
clean is a necessary condition. It must further be
remembered that the floor of the mosque was of
gravel, and shoes were needed as a protection from
heat or cold. The practice now is that shoes are
left outside the mosque. But if needed as a
protection from severe heat or severe cold or for
some other reason, a man may go into the mosque
with shoes on if they are clean. The case of a
non-Muslim is different. He can enter the mosque
only on sufferance, and he must, therefore, be
required to remove his shoes as a mark of
respect.
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36
`Abd Allah ibn `Umar said,
The dogs came into and went out of the mosque in the time of
the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, and they did not wash (the mosque) with water on that
account. (B. 4 : 34.)
37
Abu Usaid said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"When one of you enters the
mosque, he should say, `O Allah! open for me the doors of
Thy mercy'; and when he goes out, he should say, `O
Allah! I beg of Thy grace of Thee'." (M-Msh. 4 :
7.)
Top
Hadith
Section
> A
Manual of Hadith
> Chapter 05: The Mosque (Hadith -- The Traditions)
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