The role of Mosques in building civilizations 1
We are in desperate need to rediscover our history and study factors of success to our nations in leading humanity 1000 years ago, and building civilizations testified by its enemies before their children.
Any intellectual, scientific and social school or university which continued to produce educators for humanity in sciences of the mind and transmissions alike for almost a thousand years from scholars, modernizers and scientists in medicine, engineering, mathematics, philosophy, astronomy, literature and more of religious and life sciences, rarely combined under the umbrella of one civilization, let alone the product of one school.
The school I mean by is the mosque in its comprehensive depth which is a concept missing in many of our nations children, the mosque resembles the point of meet to nations and unites them, and there for was the first works of the teacher of humanity “Prophet Mohammad” by building a mosque for Muslims in Quba where he spent his first days in the city, carrying rocks with his own hands, building what is known to me “The prophet’s mosque” which was a school for the Islamic first calling, the house of Islam, which was a school, a university and the headquarters of the council, preparations of the Army and managing the nation matters big ot small.
Mosques in its pure Islamic definition is the place of pure worship to the creator, and since worshiping in its comprehensive Islamic definition is a university of human life, and since knowledge in Islam is prerequisite in practicing proper devotion and worship in its comprehensive concept, mosques have the role of the dissemination of knowledge, becoming a lighthouse and a scientific destination.
Mosques made their educational role in its first days, where the prophet encouraged the educational role by saying “Who goes to the mosque only to benefit from learning or to teach, is similar to the have done the pilgrimage of Islam”, the purpose here is to show how the prophet explains the importance of knowledge and its differentiation from worshiping rituals in performing prayers in the mosque.
Education was not limited to men in the mosque, but women have competed in knowledge and education, mosques were wide open for them to participate in harboring knowledge and sharing life with men.
If the currently available educational tools where available in the prophets time, he would’ve encouraged us to use them, and he would be the first to do so.
Mosques continued in development and growth, generation after another, to accomplish its duties in making life and become a university or science and pioneering intellectuals, and examples are many, we will mention some of them, such as the mosques of a thousand (named due to being established more than a thousand years ago) like ‘Amr Bin Al As Mosque’ which was the cradle of scientific movement in Egypt, and had hundreds of science sessions, also ‘The Umayyad Mosque’ in Damascus and Al Mansur Mosque in Baghdad, and the Villagers Mosque in Fez (Morocco) which had a unique educational system and educational democracy, as well as the methods of teaching in it. This Mosque had detailed and very specific terms and conditions for hiring and educational jobs, it had dorms for students and teachers, specialized libraries for university students, and thus attended by Muslims and non-Muslims from all over the world, especially Europe such as Rev. Gerbert Doryak which later became the pope of Rome. Teaching used to start just before sunrise and lasts until one hour after midnight, another Mosque is Al-Zaytuna Mosque in Tunis which excelled in most of the scientific fields and areas, its library held more than 200 thousand volumes of books, and same foes for AL Azhar Mosque which started like any other mosque and their ritual applications but soon enough becoming a university that teaches different sciences and produces giants in science and all other life fields.
All those great universities/mosques contributed in motivating and encouraging students on the concept of discussion, corresponding and practice them, it even became familiar for students to disagree with educators and teachers in opinion, all under the boundaries of conventional and mutual respect, thus schooling system, called mosques (in its comprehensive definition) found generations that will stay as miracles to the world and its pride, credited with all life sciences where it established the scientific and industrial revolution in the west.
Both the 5th and 6th (After Hirjah) had expansions in school building separated from mosques, which gradually resulted in losing the inclusivity of education in the mosques circles and limited with forensic science, and so the educational weakness began overcoming the nation, which increased the speed of weakness and the collapse of 3 disasters in the history of Islamic nations throughout 3 centuries.
This first disaster was the burning of Fustat in 564 A.H, the second one was the vandalism and burning of the Islamic civilization center in Baghdad by the Tatars in 656 A.H, the 3rd disaster however was the fall of Andalusia in 897 A.H.
With Muslims losing the lead in science, they lost the lead of Islam over humanity, and then the scientific heritage was inherited by Europe and carried buy its people, appreciated by them, thus raising their fate to take charge of leadership from Muslims in science and humanity, and as Muslims scramble in ignorance, losing their Islamic identity, starting with separating religious education from life’s knowledge, and thus the separation of the spiritual and ethical aspects of mosques from life sciences, followed by weakness in education in all aspects of building life, and then occupation came to minimize the comprehensive Islamic education, with the British empire working on AL-Azhar, the French on the Villagers Mosque in Fez, and same goes for Al-Zaytonah university in Tunis, and from the ways of sizing and neutralizing those university mosques is to weaken its status, graduating generations colored in different colors of an Islamic school concept, pushing Muslims further and further from comprehensive sciences and building the earth and the taking of reasons in everything that brings life and builds it, but when those colors were lost in mosques, devotion to receive knowledge was lost as well, using science by other nations away from all its spiritual values and what’s beneficial to humanity.
The weak stand of mosques is a reflection to the weakness of Islamic nations, and an Islamic wakening would never happen until mosques do their comprehensive role, and living up to means of education with what commensurate the needs of this century and its requirements to make the core values of an Islamic life once again, it is a duty or else cannot bring proper education to generations without it.
The great efforts to bring back the role of mosques in building civilizations and making life, from those efforts what is done by the Islamic society in Boston by establishing the biggest cultural center in America that includes a mosque with a university and school, as well as a library that is a reference for researchers and a center to invite non-Muslims with many lecture halls.
The mosque will be built in a very unique location next to the medical city and big universities such as Harvard and Boston, on a land that was presented to Muslims with a symbolic price for the first time in U.S history, which will be our subject for the next time.
The role of mosques in building civilizations 2
In the previous article we spoke about the role of mosques in building civilizations, and we previewed hints of the effects of mosques in building our civilization, and the consequences of neutralizing and minimizing the concept and role of mosques in the deterioration of the nations morals, weakness and their defeat, and weakening the role of mosques is only a reflection of the Islamic nations weakness, and the Islamic awakening will never be complete until the mosques do their complete roll, razing up its methods and ways of educational development with what fits the needs of the century and its events in order to become the heart of Islamic life once again, and this is a modern duty where the nations education will never be completed unless with it.
And although there are massive efforts to regain the role of mosques in building civilizations and making life, the financial support to such comprehensive projects is limited, from those efforts, what is been accomplished by the Islamic community of Boston in establishing the biggest cultural center in the United States, which includes a mosque, a college and a school, and a library to be a reference for researchers , as well as a center to invite non-Muslims and including halls for lectures and seminars, this huge Islamic center is being built in a very unique location by the medical city and big universities such as Harvard Medical School and Boston University on a land given to Muslims by the American Government in a symbolic price for the first time in American history.
And despite the fact that the Islamic community was able to secure quarter of the amount for the building, the financial support was affected negatively after the events of September 11th, and this reaction could be the worst kind of disasters to shadow our nation from every angle of the earth since that event, from the reasons of the dangers of slacking in the support of such Islamic projects is the following:
(1) The hypothesis of the call to God and the state of his callers toward God, and our responsibility as a nation that carries the last divine messages to the whole of humanity, and our destiny in slacking towards spreading the message.
(2) The importance of call to God in America specifically, where decision making is being make, and where today we pay the price of our falter in support of an Advocacy intellectual and political Islamic institutes that support Muslim causes in America, and where we will pay the high price in the next days to come if we do not benefit from current lessons, but we can extend to say that many of the nations catastrophes can be avoided with strong presentation in many global events and to contribute in making the decision and lifting off the harm and catastrophes on the Islamic nation, and stop draining the energies of this nation and its wealth with it.
(3) The importance of benefiting from the high demand of Americans on knowing Islam which has never happened in American history, which is a door that has been opened, and there are those who work day and night to find the legal ways to close those doors, and where Law Advocacy is a religious obligation on all of us.
(4) The importance of exporting our calling, culture, thoughts, legacy and history to the whole world in the era of globalization, and where best to have a platform than in Boston the capital of minds, knowledge and American history to do this roll of calling to God with tools of this era, from establishing lectures and seminars, research and studies, conferences and ritual meetings, teaching Islam to the next generation from American Muslims, and so if we couldn’t challenge the next globalization –a true fact- lets ride its horse and direct it towards exporting to the world the most precious finding of this earth in the last divine messages to the whole of humanity, and if we succeeded in exporting it to the world, will it harm us any less, for they who found God, have found everything, and they who didn’t find God there is nothing to be found?
(5) The project of the cultural center in Boston is one of the few projects that is being awaited by both Muslim and non-Muslim communities, and where the land provided by the city with a symbolic price, and there is an agreement of providing Advocacy and social services which will be offered in the center to serve the community, such as giving lectures about Islam in the neighboring university, and providing scholarships to Muslim and non-Muslim children to learn about Islam, as well as establishing a powerful Islamic library to become a reference to the researchers, and other services, which is the duty of Muslims toward the community which they live in.
Nations of other religions in America and the world support their institutes very effectively and never slack to give the most precious holdings to empower their religions, there is a huge church minutes away from the Islamic cultural center which is worth more than 300 million dollars in cost, so what will the holders of the last divine message to earth to represent their religion of the creator of heavens and the earth in communities thirsty for the light of right.
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