THE MUSJID DEFILING ITS SANCTITY WITH TV SCREENS AND PROJECTORS

Transcription

1 THE MUSJID DEFILING ITS SANCTITY WITH TV SCREENS AND PROJECTORS Recently in the Musjid in the town of Stanger (Natal), some Deeni lessons on the subject of Inheritance were imparted by using a huge screen and a projector. The Majlis published an article criticizing this method of teaching inside the Musjid. Some persons defending the program said that: - A projector screen and a projector were used. - Animate objects were not displayed. Thus, according to them there is no basis for saying that the program was haraam. Those defending the display in the Musjid are floundering in confusion because they have not understood the status of a Musjid. It is therefore best to first explain what exactly a Musjid is. Without understanding the status of a Musjid, the arguments presented to justify in the Musjid an activity which may be normally permissible will be superficial and baseless. THE MUSJID According to the Hadith the most beloved places on earth to Allah Ta ala are the Musaajid whilst the most detested places are the market-places. On the Day of Qiyaamah, all plots of land on which Musaajid were built will be annexed to the land in Jannat. 1 / 7

2 The primary purpose of the Musjid is Ibaadat Salaat, I tikaaf and silent Thikrullaah in general. The Musjid is described as the House of Allah. It is not permissible to enter the Musjid in the state of janaabat, in fact not even without wudhu. It is not permissible to conduct even a lawful trade transaction in the Musjid, even selling a Qur aan. Leave alone selling a Qur aan, it is not permissible to recite the Qur aan Majeed aloud inside the Musjid when there are Musallis present. The sanctity of the Musjid is such that in terms of the Hanafi Musjid even Janaazah Salaat may not be performed inside the Musjid proper. The Musjid is the abode for I tikaaf for which niyyat is essential. Thus a Nafl I tikaaf is enacted with a niyyat at all times of entry into the Musjid. It is not permissible for those not observing I tikaaf to eat inside the Musjid. It is not permissible to take inside the Musjid anything which has an offensive odour. For example, halaal fish which is a wonderful ni mat of Allah Ta ala, may not be taken into the Musjid. Similarly, one who has consumed raw garlic and onions, may not immediately enter the Musjid. A paid Ustaadh may not teach even the Qur aan Majeed inside the Musjid. It is Allah s House, hence everything of the dunya is prohibited inside the Musjid regardless of the merit, value, benefit and goodness of the worldly acts and activities. The Musjid is not the venue which befits worldly activities. 2 / 7

3 It is HARAAM to engage in worldly conversation inside the Musjid. Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: Speaking in the Musjid consumes good deeds just as cattle consume (and deplete) grass. Once when Hadhrat Nabi Isaa (Alayhis salaam) saw some persons engaging in conversation inside the Musjid, he struck them with his shawl and expelled them from the Musjid. Once when Hadhrat Umar (Radhiyallahu anhu) saw two strangers speaking inside the Musjid, he warned them and said that if they had been residents of Madinah, he would have whipped them. But since they were strangers, he sufficed with a verbal warning. It is not permissible to make announcements about lost items in the Musjid. It is not permissible to sit in the Musjid with legs outstretched towards the Qiblah. In fact this should be avoided even outside the Musjid. It is not permissible to unnecessarily without valid reason lean against the Musjid s walls or while away the time staring at the ceiling. It is not permissible to hang frames or pictures of even Qur aanic Aayaat or Allah s Beautiful Names on the walls of the Musjid, the Mihraab wall in particular. Only Bid atis perpetrate such acts. From this brief description of the extremely lofty status of the Musjid, it will be clear to sincere and unbiased Muslims that the Musjid is not an ordinary building which may be treated like a hall or a maktab. What had transpired in the Stanger Musjid has defiled the sanctity of the Musjid in the following ways: 3 / 7

4 1) The screen and the projector bestowed a cinema atmosphere to the House of Allah Azza Wa Jal. The screen was placed right in front of the Musjid. The Musjid is not the venue for such displays and antics which pillage the sacred atmosphere of the Musjid. The resemblance was with a cinema. 2) There is no difference between the projector and the tv screen. The resemblance is the same. 3) In addition to pictures, there were videos regardless of the fact that animate objects were at this initial stage not displayed. That stage will still come after shaitaan has succeeded in desensitizing Imaani inhibitions and acclimatizing the people to haraam pictography. In this regard, the condition of senior Ulama such as Mufti Taqi and Maulana Rafi Usmani is lamentable. They have drifted so far from Siraatul Mustaqeem that they now deem television and digital pictures of animate objects to be permissible, This is the scheme of shaitaan. He erodes Imaani inhibition to evil by imperceptible degrees. The fate of shaitaaniyat prevailing at Al-Azhar and all other Arab Madaaris was not an overnight affliction. Shaitaan operates his cunning schemes subtly by degrees. Displaying even pictures of inanimate objects in the Musjid is haraam. The Musjid is not a 4 / 7

5 secular school classroom. It is not permissible to transform the Musjid atmosphere into an atmosphere which prevails at a school. 4) People were behaving with disrespect in the Musjid. They forgot where they were. The screen and the projector caused their minds to drift perhaps to the cinema or some school building or hall, hence people were talking, making a noise, talking nonsense and leaning against the walls. This information has been passed to us by several musallis who had witnessed the defilement of the Musjid. 5) The subject of Meeraath (Inheritance) is as old as the Qur aan Majeed. It was taught from the age of the Sahaabah. This Ilm has to be imparted in the Sunnah methodology which has come down to us down the long corridor of more than 14 centuries. The screen and the projector for teaching Ilm-e-Wahi are haraam Tashabbuh bil Kuffaar. It is bereft of barkat. On the issue of teaching the Deen by means of a screen and projector, the followers of Hadhrat Mufti Mahmoodul Hasan (Rahmatullah alayh) will be interested to know what his view was. You will not find it in Fataawa Mahmoodiyyah. He said about the use of the projector to teach Maktab children the Arabic alphabet and reciting Qur aan: It totally destroys the mental ability of the child. Hadhrat Mufti Sahib had made this statement in the house of this writer in the presence of about 20 persons among them were two NNB jamiat molvis who had brought Hadhrat to Port Elizabeth with an ulterior motive. At that time the NNB jamiat did not exist. It was Jamiatul Ulama Transvaal. We might as well digress and explain the background of Hadhrat s statement. 5 / 7

6 This was some decades ago when the Benoni Muslim Jamaat had introduced projectors in their maktabs. We had criticized this departure from the tareeqah of the Akaabireen and Salafus Saaliheen. At the discussion on this issue in Port Elizabeth, the two NNB jamiat molvis were at pains to extract a jawaaz (permissibility) fat wa from Hadhrat Mufti Sahib. They failed, and that was when he made the aforementioned statement. Those who usually cite Mufti Mahmoodul Hasan Sahib to bolster their bid ah and haraam activities by misinterpreting his statements should know that he was against projectors even in Maktabs, leave alone Musaajid. It is not a matter of only pictures of animate objects not being used. The entire program was highly unbefitting for a Musjid. It was tantamount to sacrilege defiling the holy atmosphere and sanctity of the Musjid. There is no barkat whatsoever in these kuffaar methods to teach Ilm-e-W ahi. The mubaarak tareeqah of the Salafus Saaliheen is of imperative importance, full of noor and barkat. A brother mentioned: In our Musjid we also have two screens at the back that display the salaat times and other relevant information that would be beneficial for our Musallees from a computer. These two computer screens at the back of the Musjid, most probably in the Sehn area, are not a basis for justifying the inconsiderate program which was conducted inside the Musjid proper with the big screen right in front at the Qiblah wall. 6 / 7

7 Firstly, the two computer screens are not a valid Shar i ma khath (basis for extracting and basing a ruling). These two small screens themselves are in need of a Shar i ruling for deciding their status and fate. It is not a daleel for justifying what had transpired inside the Musjid. In fact, it is best to get rid of the two small screens at the back of the Musjid. Even these screens contaminate the Musjid atmosphere. Besides this, the several other factors explained above contribute to the impermissibility of the big screen and the method of imparting the ta leem inside the Musjid. 9 Muharram 1439 (30 September 2017) 7 / 7