The Masjid- A Place of true love

I always knew that the function of going to the Masjid was more than just for prayer, but recently I was reminded of that once again.

The truth is that I don’t often go to the Masjid to perform my prayers, I usually perform them at home. The Masjid nearby me does not have a place for women to pray and to be honest, if it did, I don’t know if I would actually be a regular attendee, or if laziness would have overcome me and kept me at home anyway, Allah knows best.

In any case, recently I was performing my zuhr salaah at the Masjid and a fellow Muslim sister who came to stand next to me reminded me of the deeper function of the Masjid. The sister seemed to have a cold and because she was coughing aloud she turned to me and apologised. As I looked at her to tell her that it really didn’t matter and that she was not disturbing me at all, something strange overcame me. I felt a love in my heart, for my fellow Muslim sister, who I had never met before this day, someone I would probably never see again.

As we stood there side by side, going down together, bowing to our Lord Allah, in unison, it dawned on me that we were exactly the same, at that moment, our hearts united by our belief, our fingers moving the same way as we counted the amount of times we recited dhikr, we were one and the same, there was no difference at all. All that mattered was that we were Muslim sisters, and this is what had led me to feel love and compassion for this woman who I had met for the very first time.

Now what if we were praying together every day, in the same Masjid, 5 times a day, wouldn’t that unite us far more than this? Wouldn’t the love between sisters be far deeper then? Wouldn’t the compassion be more genuine, more heartfelt, and wouldn’t the need to support and help one another be more profound?

My Muslims sister greeted me warmly as we were leaving the Masjid, she made a small prayer for me in her greeting and we parted ways, we’ll probably never see each other again, but this momentary unity of our hearts will live on in the lesson it teaches.

It is even more clear to me now that the Masjid is above anything else a place of connection, not only do we connect with our Creator, but through the mercy of Allah (SWT) do we connect with one another as well, in a way that we cannot connect in any other setting or circumstance. Through our common belief are we united with people who we may never have associated with otherwise. It doesn't matter what our cultures or backgrounds are, what our interests or occupations are, what our status in society may be, at the Masjid we are all exactly the same and when all the superficialities of life are absent, then we are shown true love!

May Allah increase the love between Muslims insha'Allah Ameen.

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