Explain and describe the ways in which Muslims worship in the Mosque.

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Andrew Coleman 10K                                                Page         02/05/2007

        

In this coursework, I am answering the question which was put to me “Explain and describe the ways in which Muslims worship in the Mosque” To start off I need to tell you that in the Muslim religion there are five very important pillars and these are part of “The “Akran” and this is what most Muslims believe to be the most important part of worshipping Allah and of Islam. This is done to express Allah’s transcendence by his followers. These pillars are thought to Muslims to be like a temple for God and it is held up by theses five pillars and if one is weak they all are. The name for this so called “temple” is “Arkan” and these pillars are the five basic duties which all Muslims must perform. Please note that I have said all Muslims because in Christianity there is a lot of views on the Bible which all range from a fundamentalist view to a psychological view. Where as in Islam every thing is taken fundamentally and this comes from the belief that the Qu’ran is the “Word of Allah” spoken through Muhammad where as the Bible is most commonly believed to be the thoughts and ideas and expressions of God and is not his true word.

        Nevertheless, the pillars which all Muslims follow start off with, Shahadah which means “the bearing witness, or declaration of faith, that there is truly one Supreme Being and that Muhammad was his genuine messenger.” This really means that there is only one true god and he is Allah. The second pillar of Islam is Salah and this is the one which will have the most say in my coursework, because it is “pray five times a day” and this is what all Muslims want to do. There is a strict code of worship to do this, which will be explained more later on. The third pillar of Islam is “Zakah” and this is the giving of money to or for the poor”. The fourth pillar of Islam is “Sawm” and this is the fasting during the month of Ramadan and this is only taken place between daylight hours and ends in the festival of Eid. The final and fifth pillar of Islam is “Haij” and here Muslims go to Makkah, which is the birth place of the final prophet Muhammad. It also is the place where the holy shrine called the Kabah is, which is a building built by the other prophets and not Muhammad, it is worshipped five times a day, every weeks by every Muslim around the world.

        Muslims do Salah because it is the second pillar of Arkan and it is thought to bring people closer to Allah and it shows Allah, that they are willing to do Shahid, which means ready to die for your faith, this is taken literally or as a spiritual meaning. Salah is also done to keep them from indecent, shameful and forbidden activities. There are also a lot more reasons why Muslims take part in Salah and these are listed below:

  • To combine soul and body in Divine worship. This means to get ready to accept god and to find inner peace.
  • To calm down dangerous passions and master the baser instincts. This means to become more civilised and to teach your body to not lash out and to think things through.
  • To show equality, unity and brotherhood. This means to make every one equal and to be united in agreement and to think as every other Muslim to be your brother and this is also seen in the last movement of the Rakahs where you have to look to your left and right to show respect to you good deeds and bad deeds but it is also done because in jumuah, Friday prays, you will be next to other Muslims and you are acknowledge them as you family.
  • To promote patience, courage, hope and confidence. This means to make everyone be proud of there faith and that in bad or dark times there will always be hope and it will come with patience’s and confidence that it will happen.
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But out of all of these the most importance part is “submission” this is seen in the way Muslims prostrate themselves to Allah during the Rakahs.

Now I have said why they worship I need to tell you where, the place in which Muslims pray is called a mosque and this in Islamic is Masjid and it means “where people prostrate themselves”. A mosque can be in a lot of places and even in old buildings like a church or an old school. All a mosque needs is a place where people can wash under running water ...

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