HOUSE OF GOD

Human Faith

2010-03-08T02:39:00.000-08:00

One day when Abu Bin Adam was little 1974 the heavenly light told him to go to a place in Gulgasht Multan Pakistan close to a lake where two very old cobras lived; everyone else in that town was an afraid to go any place near the cobras.

The cobras were bathing in the sunlight; the heavenly light told Abu to throw a rock up in the air by the lake. The rock however didn’t fall in the water but it hit a tree branch which made two leaves drop from the tree and fell into the water. The rock then hit a crow on the head that made the crow fall right in front of the cobras.

The crow started cawwing, the cawwing attracted more crows. Then a few minutes later there were about 40 to 50 crows gathered around the injured crow and the old cobras. The crows started eating the cobras. What Abu bin Adam didn’t know is that when he had thrown the rock an fire ant was drowning in the waters of the lake asking God (Rab) to save her. When the rock made the Two leaves fall one of the leaf fell in front of the very small fire ant in the water.

The ant then climbed onto the leaf and said, Thank you God the Beneficent , the Merciful . This tells us that there is a God (Rab) of Humanity (Rabi) who helps animals when they ask for help as well as human Kind.

Blessing on humanity from Mehdi (Imam) and Adam (Jesus) the father and the son with Holy Spirit!

Human Faith is a religious of God (Rab) of humanity (Rabi). The definition of humanity (Rabi) in our faith is the quality of being humane and respectful for life. The Divine Affirmations of human faith are the commandment of God (Rab) of Humanity (Rabi). The crime against the Nine Affirmations is blasphemy and great disrespect for our God (Rab) of humanity (Rabi).
Human Faith is heavenly light of knowledge restriction on sacred light is eclipse on humanity and blasphemy.
Human faith is a religious of Mehdi ‘s and Adam ‘s monotheistic faith and knows that God (Rab) is the creator and overseer of the universe at all the time and all matters. The waves of fresh air with small particles full of wisdom and oxygen of (Rabi) are in the air it is just matter of time when they touch the brain to change the heart.

The Moral Values

2010-03-08T02:36:00.000-08:00

Abu bin Adam was born in the city of heat and dust (Multan Pakistan) and few yards away from his home there was a cemetery and a heavenly light used to live there whose name was Human Faith. The heavenly light told Abu to look at the tallest tree in the cemetery where the Golden Eagles have risen their chicks, after a few seconds a chick fell from the tree and landed on the ground.

The parents of the chick, the two golden eagles came down and tended the chick. The heavenly light attracted Abu to see what the chick will do and how the parents will help him get back to the nest, the chick tried to fly but he couldn’t because he wasn’t old enough to, both parents stayed with the chick to protect him from other predators, everyday the chick tried to fly but couldn’t, after seven days he finally succeeded and flew to the tree and sat on a branch near his nest.

It was a surprise for Abu to see that the chick and the parents did not lose heart made many attempts but succeeded in the end. Seeing this, a ray of hope shown on Abu’s face, the heavenly light told Abu that failure is the pillar of success in kids life and said that the Greek king Dionysius’s people were suffering from pain and sicknesses we showed him how to produce wine (Abay-Anhub) from the grapes and give the art and wisdom to keep his people happy and we made Abraham PBUH a good man who is not a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or a Jew who is just a upright man for his family and for moral values.

Heavenly light gave Abraham PBUH wisdom and the stone (Asfud) from paradise and moral values for human kind. Time went by quick and Abu happen to be here in United State driving livery when he met a girl who have three children from three different fathers and all fathers are in jail.

Abu’s job is to take her to the Methadom clinic everyday and bring her back home, and her youngest four year old child saw Abu as a male role model who is there every day and the child called Abu daddy, Abu looked in the kids eyes and cried and asked God (Rab) what happened to Abrahams PBUH moral values.

Blessing on humanity (Rabi) from Mehdi (Imam) and Adam (Jesus) the father and the son with Holy Spirit!

Human faith teaches not only moral values it can give realistic purpose of achieving complete fulfillment of internal life. Our method of understanding both the universe and life is based on unlimited confidence in individual by teaching respect of human life.

Human faith is Mehdi’s and Adam’s monotheistic faith and knows that God is the creator and overseer of the universe at all the time and all matters.

It is time to modernize our faith by adopting true faith and educate mankind in accordance with basic principle of life. Our vision is to introduce true human religion by mobilizing communities and faiths around the world to improve people’s lives .Our mission is to strength the bond of humanity (Rabi) by introducing human faith religion.

History of the Bible

2010-03-01T19:01:00.000-08:00

The history of the Bible starts with a phenomenal account of history! It's not one book like I always thought -- It's an ancient collection of writings, comprised of 66 separate books, written over approximately 1,600 years, by at least 40 distinct authors. The Old Testament contains 39 books written from approximately 1500 to 400 BC, and the New Testament contains 27 books written from approximately 40 to 90 AD. The Jewish Bible (Tanakh) is the same as the Christian Old Testament, except for its book arrangement. The original Old Testament was written mainly in Hebrew, with some Aramaic, while the original New Testament was written in common Greek.

The history of the "Bible" begins with the Jewish Scriptures. The historical record of the Jews was written down on leather scrolls and tablets over centuries, and the authors included kings, shepherds, prophets and other leaders. The first five books are called the Law, which were written and/or edited primarily by Moses in the early 1400's BC. Thereafter, other scriptural texts were written and collected by the Jewish people during the next 1,000 years. About 450 BC, the Law and the other Jewish Scriptures were arranged by councils of rabbis (Jewish teachers), who then recognized the complete set as the inspired and sacred authority of God (Elohim). At some time during this period, the books of the Hebrew Bible were arranged by topic, including The Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nebiim), and the Writings (Ketubim). The first letters of these Hebrew words - T, N and K -- form the name of the Hebrew Bible - the Tanakh. 1

Beginning as early as 250 BC, the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek by Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt. This translation became known as the "Septuagint", meaning 70, and referring to the tradition that 70 (probably 72) men comprised the translation team. It was during this process that the order of the books was changed to the order we have in today's Bible: Historical (Genesis - Esther), poetic (Job - Song of Songs), and prophetic (Isaiah - Malachi). 2

Although the Jewish Scriptures were copied by hand, they were extremely accurate copy to copy. The Jews had a phenomenal system of scribes, who developed intricate and ritualistic methods for counting letters, words and paragraphs to insure that no copying errors were made. These scribes dedicated their entire lives to preserving the accuracy of the holy books. A single copy error would require the immediate destruction of the entire scroll. In fact, Jewish scribal tradition was maintained until the invention of the printing press in the mid-1400's AD. As far as manuscript accuracy, the recent discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has confirmed the remarkable reliability of this scribal system over thousands of years 3 (I'll get back to the Dead Sea Scrolls later).

After approximately 400 years of scriptural silence, Jesus arrived on the scene in about 4 BC. Throughout his teaching, Jesus often quotes the Old Testament, declaring that he did not come to destroy the Jewish Scriptures, but to fulfill them. In the Book of Luke, Jesus proclaims to his disciples, "all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." 4
Starting in about 40 AD, and continuing to about 90 AD, the eye-witnesses to the life of Jesus, including Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter and Jude, wrote the Gospels, letters and books that became the Bible's New Testament. These authors quote from 31 books of the Old Testament, and widely circulate their material so that by about 150 AD, early Christians were referring to the entire set of writings as the "New Covenant." During the 200s AD, the original writings were translated from Greek into Latin, Coptic (Egypt) and Syriac (Syria), and widely disseminated as "inspired scripture" throughout the Roman Empire (and beyond). 5 In 397 AD, in an effort to protect the scriptures from various heresies and offshoot religious movements, the current 27 books of the New Testament were formally and finally confirmed and "canonized" in the Synod of Carthage.

History of the Quran

2010-03-01T18:56:00.000-08:00

In this Book, the Holy Prophet's life, the history of the Arabs and the events which occurred during the period of the revelation of the Quran have not been mingled with the Divine Verses, as is the case with the Bible. The Quran is the pure word of God. Not one word therein is not divine. Not a single word has been deleted from its text. The Book has been handed down to our age in its complete and original form since the time of Prophet Muhammad. From the time the Book began to be revealed, the Holy Prophet had dictated its text to the scribes. Whenever some Divine Message was revealed, the Holy Prophet would call a scribe and dictate its words to him. The written text was then read out to the Holy Prophet, who, having satisfied himself that the scribe has committed no error of recording, would put the manuscript in safe custody. The Holy Prophet used to instruct the scribe about the sequence in which a revealed message was to be placed in a particular Surah (chapter). In this manner, the Holy Prophet continued to arrange the text of the Quran in systematic order till the end of the chain of revelations. Again, it was ordained from the beginning of Islam that a recitation of the Holy Quran must be an integral part of worship. Hence the illustrious Companions would commit the Divine verses to memory as soon as they were revealed. Many of them learned the whole text and a far larger number had memorized different portions of it.

How to Pray: The Foundation

2010-02-26T03:22:00.000-08:00

You must first begin a relationship with God. Imagine

some guy named Mike decides to ask the president of

Princeton University (whom Mike doesn't even know) to

co-sign a car loan for him. Mike would have zero chance

of that happening. (We're assuming that the president

of Princeton is not an idiot.) However, if that same

president's daughter asked her dad to co-sign a car

loan for her, it would be no problem. Relationship

matters.

With God, when the person is actually a child of God,

when the person belongs to God, he knows them and hears

their prayers. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd. I

know my sheep and my sheep know me...my sheep listen to

my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them

eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can

snatch them out of my hand."4

When it comes to God then, do you really know him and

does he know you? Do you have a relationship with him

that warrants God answering your prayers? Or is God

pretty distant, pretty much just a concept in your

life? If God is distant, or you're not sure that you

know God, here is how you can begin a relationship with

him right now
Will God Definitely Answer Your Prayer?

For those who do know him and rely on him, Jesus seems

to be wildly generous in his offer: "If you remain in

me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish,

and it will be given you."5 To "remain" in him and have

his words remain in them means they conduct their lives

aware of him, relying on him, listening to what he

says. Then they're able to ask him whatever they want.

Here is another qualifier: "This is the confidence we

have in approaching God: that if we ask anything

according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that

he hears us -- whatever we ask -- we know that we have

what we asked of him."6 God answers our prayers

according to his will (and according to his wisdom, his

love for us, his holiness, etc.).

Where we trip up is assuming we know God's will,

because a certain thing makes sense to us! We assume

that there is only one right "answer" to a specific

prayer, assuming certainly THAT would be God's will.

And this is where it gets tough. We live within the

limits of time and limits of knowledge. We have only

limited information about a situation and the

implications of future action on that situation. God's

understanding is unlimited. How an event plays out in

the course of life or history is only something he

knows. And he may have purposes far beyond what we

could even imagine. So, God is not going to do

something simply because we determine that it must be

his will.

So, Why Doesn't God Answer Everyone's Prayers?

2010-02-26T03:14:00.000-08:00

It may be because they don't have a relationship with

God. They may know that God exists, and they might even

worship God from time to time. But those who never seem

to have their prayers answered probably don't have a

relationship with him. Further, they have never

received from God complete forgiveness for their sin.

What does that have to do with it you ask? Here is an

explanation. "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too

short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your

iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins

have hidden his face from you, so that he will not

hear."3

It's pretty natural to feel that separation from God.

When people begin to ask God for something, what

usually takes place? They begin with, "God, I really

need your help with this problem..." And then there's a

pause, followed by a restart... "I realize that I'm not

a perfect person, that I actually have no right to ask

you for this..." There's an awareness of personal sin

and failure. And the person knows that it's not just

them; that God is aware of it too. There's a feeling

of, "Who am I kidding?" What they may not know is how

they can receive God's forgiveness for all their sin.

They might not know that they can come into a

relationship with God so that God will hear them. This

is the foundation for God answering your prayer.

How to Pray: Prayers That Get Answered

2010-02-26T03:05:00.000-08:00

Have you ever known someone who really trusts God? When I was an atheist, I had a good friend who prayed often. She would tell me every week about something she was trusting God to take care of. And every week I would see God do somethingunusual to answer her prayer. Do you know how difficult it is for anatheist to observe this week after week? After a while, "coincidence" begins to sound like a very weak argument.So why would God answer my friend's prayers? The biggest reason is that she had a relationship with God. She wanted to follow God.And she actually listened to what he said. In her mind, God had the right to direct her in life, and she welcomed him doing just that! When she prayed for things, it was a natural part of her relationship with God. She felt very comfortable coming to God with her needs, her concerns, and whatever issues were current in her life. Furthermore, she was convinced, from what she read in the Bible,that God wanted her to rely on him like that.

The Battle of Karbala

2010-02-24T11:57:00.000-08:00

Karbala, which means anguish and vexation, is situated 50 miles south-west of Baghdad and about six miles west of the Euphrates River. This is the story of Husain at Karbala.

The story of Husain at the Battle of Karbala is remembered during the first 10 days of the Muslim calendar each year by Muslims. Mullahs dramatically retell the story powerfully in the mosques as men sit and weep. Details of the battle are vividly recounted. Young men imitate the pain and grief by beating their chests in rhythm to the chants of the storyteller. Some beat themselves with chains causing bruises and bloodshed to their own bodies.

The story of Husain at the battle of Karbala happened over thirteen hundred years ago and has been retold countless times from one generation to the next.

The Husain in this story is the grandson of Mohammed, the founder of Islam. Husain was slain in 680 AD at the battle of Karbala where he is also buried.

Husain is considered a martyr by Muslims and is especially revered by the Shia (Shi’ites) sect of Islam. Both Iran and Iraq have predominantly Shia populations.

Husain, whose father and brother were both early leaders of the Muslims after the death of Mohammed, was slain by another of the early successors of Mohammed.

An English translation of the story concludes: “Thus twelve years after the death of his brother Hasan, Husain, the second son of Ali, met his own death on the bloody plain of Karbala on Saturday the 10th day of Muharam, 61 A.H. (680 AD).”

On March 31, 2003 one of the American military commanders in Kuwait was being interviewed on the radio by Sean Hannity. Sean concluded the interview by stating that the American people are praying for the men and women in the military. The commander responded with thanks and stated appreciation for everyone’s prayers for both the military and the Iraqi people.

The fact that one of America’s military leaders of the war in Iraq expected people not only to pray for the military but also for the Iraqi people demonstrates compassion for the people of Iraq and a desire to help them to be set free from tyranny.

There is a spiritual battle going on for the hearts and minds of Iraqi Muslims and prayer for them is indeed part of battle.

When followers of Jesus Christ hear about the city of Karbala in the news today and the current battle going on, will they remember the spiritual condition of the people living in this place? Will they pray for God to raise up laborers to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to those who have been sitting in darkness and who have been held in spiritual bondage?

Jesus said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. "Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." Matthew 9:37-38.

God is preparing the harvest in Iraq. The door of opportunity will soon be open to go to Iraq. Who will pray for laborers to help reap the harvest of souls who He is drawing to Himself? Who will go to Iraq for this important work of God in our generation?

oldest mousqe

2010-02-19T08:32:00.000-08:00

Al-Naga Mousqe

Located in the old city of Tripoli in hotel section . It is the oldest mousqe in the city and rooted represent the fashion of libyan structure simple in Tripoli city mousqe.Been told, that were build by Omar Ben Al-has the poineer of the city.Then Al-kalfa Al-Fatmi Al-Mouz Ledeen Allah rebuilt it during his passed through the Tripoli city in the 362 of his way to Egypt leaving his old capital RAGADA near AL-Kairawan in Tunisia.

Al-Basha Mousqe

The islamic heritage encyclopedia in libya says : during the second half of the sixth and the ninteenth centuries, it is the uthmanies period which libya witnessed a great flouresh in islamic structure art , the had a great deal of structure development .Al-Basha mousqe in Tripoli city considred one of great sample represent a charming islamic structure art in Libya during the eighteenth century .This mousqe were built in year 1738 ,it says : were built on ruins of old mousqe , esablished by first muslims pioneer , this mousqe as discrybed by the encyclopedia one of the greatest mousqe in Tripoli as large decoration-planning -prevaildg , considred the first in the art decoration ,materals variety which used in it .

The History of the Church of England

2010-02-03T22:44:00.000-08:00

The roots of the Church of England go back to the time of the Roman Empire when a Christian church came into existence in what was then the Roman province of Britain. The early Christian writers Tertullian and Origen mention the existence of a British church in the third century AD and in the fourth century British bishops attended a number of the great councils of the Church such as the Council of Arles in 314 and the Council of Rimini in 359. The first member of the British church whom we know by name is St Alban, who, tradition tells us, was martyred for his faith on the spot where St Albans Abbey now stands.
The British church was a missionary church with figures such as St Illtud, St Ninian and St Patrick evangelising in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, but the invasions by the pagan Angles, Saxons and Jutes in the fifth century seem to have destroyed the organisation of the church in much of what is now England. In 597 a mission sent by Pope Gregory the Great and led by St Augustine of Canterbury landed in Kent to begin the work of converting these pagan peoples. What eventually became known as the Church of England (the Ecclesia Anglicana - or the English Church) was the result of a combination of three streams of Christianity, the Roman tradition of St Augustine and his successors, the remnants of the old Romano-British church and the Celtic tradition coming down from Scotland and associated with people like St Aidan and St Cuthbert.

An English Church
These three streams came together as a result of increasing mutual contact and a number of local synods, of which the Synod of Whitby in 664 has traditionally been seen as the most important. The result was an English Church, led by the two Archbishops of Canterbury and York, that was fully assimilated into the mainstream of the Christian Church of the west. This meant that it was influenced by the wider development of the Western Christian tradition in matters such as theology, liturgy, church architecture, and the development of monasticism. It also meant that until the Reformation in the 16th century the Church of England acknowledged the authority of the Pope.

THE HINDU MANDIR

2009-07-13T23:51:00.000-07:00

Hindu-Mandir was established in 1990 to serve the Indo-Canadian community of
Montreal. A religious, non-profit, charity, the primary aim of this society
is to build a temple and a community centre to meet the spiritual, ritual, ceremonial
and social needs of Hindus. Hindu-Mandir had the vision to build a grand temple,
where people, believing in Hinduism could come together and pray according to
our individual beliefs and traditions. Besides being a place of worship and
spiritual guidance, this Mandir was intended to act as focal point for our community
and a place of congregation.
The population of Indo-Canadian community in Montreal has been steadily growing
over the past twenty years. Of these, some 5000 people live in West Island of
Montreal. In 1995, Hindu-Mandir purchased 107,000 sq. ft. of land in D.D.O.
to build the temple / community centre project and obtained the services of
a well-known Architect to prepare the master plan for the site and to do the
design work for the project.
The temple was built according to the architectural plans conceived under the
guidance of Mr. Ramesh Khosla, the well known architect of for community, from
Arcop group, and the volunteer effort of the project team, most notably, Mr.
Krishan Puni, Mr. Ved Vohra, Mr. Sudhanshu Verma, Mr. Yoganathana and Mr. Sam
Osuri, for their outstanding volunteer effort and personal sacrifice in conceiving
this project design. I would also like to high-lite the contribution of Dr.
Virendra Jha, chairman project committee and Mr. Uma Khanna, project coordination,
and Mr. Rashter Sharma who along with all the engineering team, sacrificed their
evenings and weekends, to help us realize this dream.
The temple was constructed in 1997-98. Under Phase I, which is now complete,
we have built 23, 600 sq. ft., which includes, the main prayer hall, for about
800 people, a community kitchen, priest quarters, administration offices, a
hall of deities, parking lot for 100 vehicles, access road & ramps, and
to extensive landscaping. The cost of the project completed so far is $ 3,400,000.00.
This was financed through $ 1,200,000.00 loan from the bank. The balance funds,
were donated by the devotees of the Hindu-Mandir (material & services).
Since its completion the Mandir has become the centre of attraction for the
local community and out-of-town visitors. With its modern architect and beautiful
finish it has REALLY become a monument “To Be Proud Of”.
Phase II will include a Daycare facility, Vedic Yajanshalla and residences
for priests. Construction is expected to start in 2003, and is estimated to
cost $ 0.5 million dollars.

Conversion from churches

2009-07-13T00:31:00.000-07:00

Many mosques of the first centuries, were originally churches. When churches were converted into mosques, this was naturally against the will of the Christians, but this wasn't always a big problem. In many regions, Christianity had lost its position, so the churches were simply turned into mosques over time. Muslims could actually use the churches since they were religious buildings and since Christianity was considered as a kin religion to Islam. This typically meant that both Christianity and Christians were regarded with respect by Muslims. Over time, many Christians gradually converted to Islam, and eventually, the building's use was more appropriate as a mosque than as a church.
Most mosques today are closed to non-Muslims, but this was a regulation that was developed in the first century of Islam. There was an increase in the emphasis on the sanctity of the mosque, more and more elements of the mosque were regarded as sacred, and any mosque was commonly regarded as "bayt allah," the "House of God."

Minaret

2009-07-12T23:56:00.000-07:00

Tower near to, or built into, the structures of a

mosque, which is used by the muezzin to call out the

adhan in order to make people to come to prayers in

Islam.
The earliest mosques were built without minarets, and

the action of adhan could be performed in many other

locations. The hadiths tell us that the Muslim community

of Madina called out to prayers from the roof of the

house of Muhammad, a house that doubled as a house for

prayers.
First around 80 years after Muhammad's death did the

first minarets we know of appear. This happened in

places as far between as Kairouan in Tunisia and

Damascus in Syria. It is good reason to believe that the

Great Mosque of Damascus, built in 705, was inspired by

the churches of the city, yet the Muslim minaret served

its own functions, continuing the old traditions from

the house of Muhammad.
Minaret are now very much symbols of Islam, even if they

technically are bid'a. Minarets are often adorned, high

and striving to be as slim and elegant as possible.

Modern minarets are often giving even more room for

artistic achievements than in earlier times. The ground

floor of minarets are always fitted into a square, with

the higher parts of the minaret being everything from

square to round — many are even octagonal. On top there

is a tiny room from where the muezzin either is or where

the loudspeakers are. This room is covered with a

pointed roof.
Early wahhabism outlawed minarets, a regulation imposed

for only very short time. The Mosque of the Prophet in

Madina has a record 10 minarets, lying right in the

state of the wahhabi movment.

History and Development

2009-07-12T23:36:00.000-07:00

The original mosque is the one in Mecca. It is built

around the area that surrounded the Ka'ba in pre-Islamic

times. This mosque, and the Ka'ba, are the holiest

shrines of Islam.
The basic model for early mosques, however, was the

courtyard of Muhammad's house in Madina, which was

constructed in 622 CE. This was organized with a qibla,

which at first faced in the direction of Jerusalem. To

the left of this qibla, houses for Muhammad's wives,

were erected. There were three entrances to the

courtyard. An area of the courtyard was roofed, and here

prayer was offered. After 1.5 years the direction of the

qibla was changed, in order to face Mecca.
This Madina mosque had social, political, and judicial

functions, in addition to housing Muhammad's family. The

religious functions were mixed with other functions.

Rules on how prayers should be offered seem not to have

been defined during this first period, much because this

was the period during which the Koran was revealed to

Muhammad: the rules had not yet been given.
In addition to the early mosques of Mecca and Madina,

there are sources indicating other contemporary mosques

in other towns.
Mosques soon evolved more complex and uniform shapes. A

minbar, the pulpit, from where the Friday prayer is

held, was placed next to the mihrab. Within a few years

after the death of Muhammad, mosques became such

important symbols, that when Muslim conquerors

established themselves somewhere, a mosque erected

first, and then the military camp was built around it.

This building process was inspired by the Madina

example. But in the cases where the Muslims conquered

principal cities, they constructed the mosque in the

place that was the centre of the religion of the

conquered people.
As Islam began, tribes and sects often marked their

independence or their purity by erecting mosques of

their own or by defining a certain part of the mosque as

their part. This approach has changed down through

history, but the situation today is not as tolerant as

it might appear. Muslims of all creeds are in theory

free to enter all mosques, but a Muslim of one

orientation will in reality find mosques used by Muslims

of other orientations inappropriate. A travelling Muslim

will try to find a mosque which is used by people

belonging to his own creed, usually defined by one's

Sunni, Shi'i and Ibadi adherence. Mosques under control

of the government or dominated by Islamists are

considered inappropriate by many. But as for the

jama'as, the largest mosques, these are considered

neutral, and are used by Muslims of all creeds.

Mosque

2009-07-12T23:15:00.000-07:00

House of prayer in Islam. The English word, "mosque", comes from the Egyptian Arabic "masgid", while in common Arabic it is "masjid."
A mosque is symbolically very important to Muslims, being a humble way for humans to recreate pure divine presence on earth. But mosques are not built according to divine patterns (as is alleged by many other religions) — they are simply divinely guided. The main religious texts provide no clear rules as to what a mosque should look like.
Mandatory elements for a mosque include that it should point the direction to Mecca (this direction is called qibla). This indication in most mosques is a mihrab, a niche in the wall. The area in front of the mihrab must be roofed. In the wall of the mihrab there can be no doors. As for the other walls, there can be as many doors as the builders want.
There are 2 types of mosques: the main mosque is called jama'a, and is the one where the Friday prayer is recited. The jama'as are often richly adorned. In English, the term jama'a is rarely used, "Friday Mosque" or "Great Mosque" being the common term.
The other type of mosque is called masjid, and is the local and smaller mosque. While these can be richly adorned, they can seldom be compared to the jama'as.
Masjid is a word meaning 'place for prostration' and they were used by the early Muslims for houses of worship, even at times for other religions. Today the Arabic 'masjid', and the English 'mosque', are used exclusively for the religious houses of Islam. With the significant increase in jama¢as (main mosques) after the 9th century, the term 'masjid' came more and more to be used for small and insignificant mosques.
Mosques form centres in cities, or in neighbourhoods of cities. This function does not always have to be structured, but it can be connected to mentality, so that the establishment of a new mosque often facilitates the emergence of a city centre. This characteristic was typical in older days, but is becoming more and more unusual.
Very few mosques lie in open areas, and very few mosques do not have shops and commercial activities in the streets around it. People's houses are often lying in a second "circle" around the mosque and the shops. Other social functions that have often been connected to mosques, include schools, law courts, hospitals and lodging for travellers. This pattern is based upon the Madina mosque, but is of less importance today, since city planning more and more uses Western models.