Mufti Menk – Environment of the Masjid

			Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah.
		

			Wa Salatu. Was Salam Mahabharata Allah Allah via Vijayawada Allah.
		

			We commenced by praising Allah subhanho wa Taala sending blessings and salutations upon Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his entire household, all his companions, may Allah bless them all and
may He bless every single one of us and grant us all, every form of goodness. I mean,
		

			beloved brothers and sisters in Islam, it is important for us to know what the environment of a
Masjid is supposed to be like.
		

			Because the masjid does not belong to me, nor does it belong to you. It is the house of Allah
subhanho wa Taala, free for every Muslim to come to and even the non Muslim who is inquisitive about
Islam to come to
		

			many of us do not know this. Yes, if there is a non Muslim who is inquisitive about Islam, and they
would like to come and see what it is all about, on condition that they are dressed appropriately
and quite clean. They may enter and they may actually ask questions, they may even listen to what is
going on. And this has been happening from the time of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. For that
reason, in this Masjid, we have allowed for the non Muslims to attend the Jamaat in a specific
section, to listen to what is being said and to listen to the talk. And in many instances, we have
had people who have reverted to Islam, seeing the good teachings of Islam, and getting their
		

			questions answered. So we as Muslims,
		

			we should never ever feel for a moment that the masjid belongs to me as an individual, nor should we
even for a split moment be from amongst those whom when we attend the masjid. We give others the
feeling that they are not supposed to be here. This happens in many massages. And the reason is, we
have forgotten that it's the house of Allah. People who come here are searching for the Almighty.
They are searching for closeness to Allah subhanho wa Taala How dare we make them feel that they are
not welcome? This is why some people stay away from the masjid because as soon as they come into the
house of Allah, they have a dirty look from someone, they have a frown from another person. They
		

			have a question sometimes that oh, this person lost himself today we have had this happening even in
our own society. And therefore they feel very uneasy. Whether I know you or not is besides the
point.
		

			The fact that you have come to the house of Allah you can be rich or poor, black or white, you can
be tall or short, you can be fat or thin, whatever it is, I love you for the sake of Allah. This is
the attitude of the house of Allah subhanho wa Taala I need to make sure that my approach and I'm
talking obviously not only about myself, but as as Muslim in my approach when it comes to the way I
deal with everyone who comes to the house of Allah is exactly as a Muslim should be dealing with one
another. We make them feel comfortable, we should smile we should greet the etiquettes of a Muslim
outside the masjid even more so to be to be implemented in the house of Allah subhanho wa Taala if I
		

			smile at you, my brother, if I make you feel you are a part of me, and you make me feel that I'm
part of you, you will make me feel like coming for the next salon. You will make me feel so wanted
to kind of love I am part of your family, you are part of mine, you might have a few issues, I may
have even more issues. Some you may know some I may not know and so on. So this is why never look at
someone and say that man is a criminal. This man is a disaster. That man's going out to this person.
This guy's a drunkard. That guy was in the nightclub yesterday. What were you doing there to find
out he was there.
		

			But the point being raised is they are searching for the almighty just like you are and you know
what they may get to the almighty before you do so Pamela This is why love one another for the
pleasure of Allah. And I want to draw today's talk upon one narration of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam which one might feel is not related but I will show you how it is related. In the hadith
of Jabir ibn Abdullah the Allahu anhu, which appears in Sahih Bukhari the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam speaks about food, and he says man akella tomb and our Basilan funny yet Xena only at
dinner when we have coffee, Beatty, whoever has eaten. Whoever has eaten raw onions or raw garlic
		

			should stay away from us should stay away from our Masjid and should stay at home. Wow.
		

			wash their mouth thoroughly, and until they have cleansed themselves when they can come to the
masjid. Why is this the case? Because we are taught not to harm people even by an offensive smell.
Allah
		

			Cuba, if you come to the house of Allah and people are standing next to you and they have this
offensive smell of something that a lot of us would consider quite tasty. That's onions and garlic
Subhana Allah not only that it could be healthy. And yet we find the Hadith says if you're not
prepared to wash your mouth thoroughly after having had raw onions or raw garlic, don't come to the
masjid stay at home it's better for you because you better come here and for the next Salah perhaps
people might not come thinking I don't want to stand next to that guy didn't want it was a
punishment. Imagine how deep the teachings of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam have regarding the
		

			masjid another thing when we come into the masjid, we should make sure we are blessed with the best
of our dress. Listen to the verse of the Quran. Yeah, Bonnie Uzi Nina Takuma.
		

			msgid worku. Noah shabu Allah to seafood, boo,
		

			boo, dreamy, oh Children of Adam, the shows that it's going to do with everybody, all children of
Adam.
		

			Take your adornment, meaning dress in your best dress, when you are going to the houses of Allah to
the place of sujood the place of frustration, wear good clothing, make sure you are adorned
properly, meaning dressed appropriately. And you may eat and drink but do not be wasteful For indeed
the almighty does not like those who are wasteful. That is the verse. So with us, if we were to be
concerned about a Salah prayer 30 minutes before that prayer, and we are to at least you know, put
on a little bit of perfume, wash ourselves properly made sure our feet are clean, perhaps you know
dressed in a nice neat way, and then come to the house of Allah five minutes early, two minutes for
		

			you know, 10 minutes ahead of time and so on. This is the proper etiquette of the house of Allah.
Some of the scholars have always said, if you want to know the situation in your house, your own
house, look at how you deal with the house of Allah subhanho wa Taala. So if you deal with the house
of Allah in appropriately, your house may become inappropriate. If you deal with the house of Allah
in a manner that you you recognize his greatness and who he is. And you take pride in how you get
there. And you make sure you bring people together and you make sure you make people wanted. When
you get to the house of Allah, you make them feel like they are muslimeen as well trying to end the
		

			pleasure of Allah your own house will be in order. This is why many societies and communities may or
may not protect ours. And may He protect the oma at large people who are not bothered in the house
of Allah, they look, like I said with a dirty look to others. What are you doing here today? That's
roughly what your eyes say sometimes. And if that is the case, you just need to go back home and
look at how the disaster occurs in your own home. Because you could not respect the house of Allah
and the big family that comes to the house of Allah. What do you think Allah is going to allow that
respect to seep through to your own family? May Allah protect us. And let's go now to another point,
		

			when we enter the house of Allah never used the opportunity, never used the opportunity to strike
deals, obviously, unless there is something absolutely necessary Once you are finished when you're
walking out, and perhaps there might be a person who's very close to you, you might want to utter a
word or two, but walk out of the house of Allah before you talk about your deals. Very simple This
place is to prepare you for the accident, and to help you live this life in a way that you will earn
the pleasure of Allah Subhana Allah that if you are going to come here and look for discounts
because the big businessman, it's hard to get an appointment with him, but I'm going to see him at
		

			the most kick, he might not want to come here the next time. He may think to himself, you know what,
when I go to this house of Allah subhanho wa Taala people are nudging me and saying, I'm going to
come for this and this discounted keep me one of this, and I want this business and I need that and
this week, we are in San we may do that. Do not do that. Not in the house of Allah. It's wrong. It's
the wrong place. You will be discouraging people from coming in. Another very interesting point is
when we meet people, we should never ask them questions that they will feel embarrassed to answer.
But I heard you've got a major medical problem. Can you tell us about the biller he won't come to
		

			the masjid again. It's got nothing to do with you. If you are really concerned and you treat him as
a family member, you will raise your hands and make dua for him. You will read
		

			Li heard something Allah help this man, Allahu Akbar. This is what you call the Brotherhood of
Islam. This is the environment of the house of Allah subhanho wa Taala how do we come to the house
of Allah and ask embarrassing questions to people?
		

			So we will be chasing them away and Allah May chase us away from his mercy as well. Another point
Yes, we do. Come here for Salah we come here for obedience. We come here for the vicar of Allah
subhanho wa Taala. Let me mention to you a hadith
		

			of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam One day, a Bedouin man walked into the house of Allah
subhanho wa Taala in Madina munawwara he walked in and he decided he did not know the etiquette of
the masjid urinated in one corner. So as he's doing his business, the Sahaba de la got up and wanted
to beat him suddenly, obviously, who would tolerate urination in the house of Allah subhanho wa
Taala. So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam realized, this man is ignorant, this man doesn't
know. Listen very carefully, because the point is very serious. What we will do, we will teach him
we will educate him. So instead of shouting, screaming, getting violent, becoming, you know,
		

			emotional and so on the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam instructed the top companions of his who
were involved in that. He says, Let us know, leave this man alone. Don't make him cut his urination
because he will become sick. Imagine.
		

			You know, I wouldn't like to say this, but it's in the ideal match and one of us urinating and
suddenly we had to block it and stop it. I don't know what would happen. So the Prophet salatu salam
is very, very conscious of this. And he says, Don't stop you let him finish. It's over. He's already
started it. It's done. What you do all of you go and collect a pail of water, get a bucket of water,
and whites, they were all gone quietly between the two of them. He says, You know what, you've done
this now, but this is the house of Allah. It is for Salah it is 14 hour it is for the remembrance of
Allah, the recitation of the Quran and good deeds, etc. This thing here, you should not do it here.
		

			It's not supposed to be here. The man now was comparing between this beautiful statement of the best
of creation, who's just come to him and spoken to him with such respect, and the others who are
about to beat him up. And he says, Allah humma Hani warham Mohammed and Wallah Taka mana
		

			O Allah have mercy on me and have mercy on Mohammed
		

			and don't have mercy on the others.
		

			Look at how the dua He was educated and came out of his heart to say yeah, Allah have mercy on me
and this man, and then Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam wanted to teach him a game that you can't say that
so he says,
		

			You have made narrow something that is very broad the mercy of a lie encompasses everybody. He was
quiet, which means the second thing we want to teach you is don't say don't have mercy on them
unless mercy can encompass anyone that everyone may Allah have mercy on all of us. Look at the
beauty this man Do you think he would come again to the house of Allah? Indeed he would. And indeed
he now knows and indeed he felt so loved when he was taught why we say this The point being made is
we see sometimes people making mistakes in Salah they might speak loudly a mobile phone rings while
lying I'm one of those whom when a mobile phone rings at that time, don't say anything. let it pass,
		

			finish the salah and carry on one day, you find the fact that the mobile phone rang from my pocket
is such a big embarrassment that that it on its own is a lesson that's what I believe such a big
embarrassment. And to be honest, if sometimes Yes, there is a lecture and it is being mentioned and
hamdulillah but when the mobile phone rings from somewhere in the middle, and the whole must keep
turns around what will happen to that man, I don't think he's going to have the guts to come back
for another Salah. Why because he's gonna be somebody might say, you know, you've got no shame so on
how can you bring Bollywood into the machine and what the man knows everything. It was an
		

			embarrassment allow that to happen because he this young man or whoever it was needed to learn the
lesson. So the lesson is learned. I'm sure we all learn lessons of that nature. If we are to collect
the person whose mobile phone rings in the worst manner that the Prophet sallallahu Sallam collected
a man who urinated in the masjid, we actually haven't learned the lesson. This is something amazing.
And this is why I want to now draw a very, very important point. We come to the house of Allah for
Koran, for salah and so on. Don't ever force others to read Salah when they come to the house of
Allah that which is extra and above. So people come and they leave their phone and after they say
		

			Brother, why didn't you leave your sooner you must come here and you must read your sooner you know
you're going to hellfire. He won't be there for the next Salah or if he comes he's going to be
having a ducking and diving attitude he won't want to see you Is this the environment of the house
of Allah. When you come to a Masjid, we will never pressurize you to say do this and do that you
come you know you've come to come close to Allah you will read your Salah properly and thereafter
you will engage in voluntary Salah voluntarily voluntary activity in the masjid voluntarily we will
have talks we will have a tally we will have whatever else in the house of Allah subhanho wa Taala
		

			it is voluntary, the day your spirituality fields you will attend you will attend. If you do not
want to attend we will not look down upon you. You have used the house of Allah subhanho wa Taala
it's not mine. It's not yours. It belongs to Allah.
		

			If I were to put pressure upon people, Brother, why don't you sit for this lecture I have now after
Salah to Asia, but brother I finished my father and I've done it and I've got some time
		

			The legend the man will go away but tomorrow and others tell him you know we set yesterday for 10
minutes and we learned so much it will encourage him to come. So we need to encourage people
positively when we put pressure on people why don't you do this? Why don't you do that as soon as
you're walking out of the masjid you find three guys with you saying brother, Mashallah, you've come
now you need to start growing your beard, and that is not going to come again. Or they come and say
Mashallah, you've come now you need to do this and do that. He will say to himself, I don't need to
see these people I know of people who stay away from the masjid. I've spoken to a lot of people,
		

			especially the young, and they say when I go there, I feel out of place. When I go there. I feel
like people are putting pressure on me to do so many extra things that I'm not ready for. And this
is what has prompted me to speak about this today.
		

			So my brothers and sisters, we need to understand and realize this is the house of Allah, not mine,
not yours. When we are here, smile at people, you earn the reward of asuna. Greet the people a
ceremony can look into their eyes, and ask them how are you perhaps How is the family and that's it.
You don't need to go into further details. You bought this cow? I see you. Where did you get the
money from for that? Why do you want to say this?
		

			My brothers and sisters, we have such a beautiful religion. And really Allah has instructed us to
fulfill Salah five times a day, if we were to come to the house of Allah in the correct manner. And
we were to greet people properly and make them feel like the environment is so serene because of the
way we are with them. Believe me, we will earn a reward for others having come to the house of
Allah, they will say, you know what, I entered this house of Allah, and I felt so calm, I learned
something. And I worked out in such a short time, and yet I felt spiritually elevated.
		

			What would be the sin of a person whom on the day of piano? He comes? May Allah forgive us? He comes
and he's asked by Allah subhanho wa Taala my slaves came to my house in order to come closer to me,
and your actions and statements chased them away from my house? What is your answer? Look what Allah
says in the surah. Allah, Allah says,
		

			tell me and
		

			neither
		

			do you see the one who stops a worshiper? When that worship is engaging in prayer. This was
obviously revealed regarding a Buddha and his actions against Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
But the lesson is for all of us, someone wants to pray, and we don't correct them properly. Or
perhaps we utter a statement or even the attitude we have is so smelly, that perhaps it would chase
them away. What answer Are we going to give Allah subhanho wa Taala imagine you in your home have a
VIP guests coming in. And some someone inside the house, perhaps a worker or a family member, you
know, answered the bell in such a way that made them turn around to say, you know what, he's not
		

			here or whatever or said something did not open the gate for them. And they went, you would probably
get so upset, I was waiting for this person. They are coming to me and I was actually expecting them
through and now you blocking them, you will get upset with Allah subhanho wa Taala. He waits for
every one of us to get closer to him. And like I said, bottom line, my brothers and sisters, don't
get too proud of your religious achievement. Don't become arrogant. What that means is you need to
be happy when Allah has accepted you to do good deeds without a doubt. But when it develops an
arrogance within you, you start thinking I'm better than the others. Your BMW might slow down once
		

			the other person's Toyota might overtake you, because you had a puncture somewhere down the line. If
you heard me say this before, you would understand what I said. But for those who might not have let
me explain. Some people spiritually they are in a BMW, they move very fast. Others are slow in their
little Toyota's and carrying on. We don't laugh at them because you just have to hit one little rock
on the road. Your car is aside and this matter the Toyota will be made in a day.
		

			us now. Allahu Akbar, Allah subhanho wa Taala some people come to Allah slowly but surely, and some
people take time. And sometimes they can overtake you. I mean, like I say, when you look at a person
coming into the house of Allah, look at them with the eyes of love, with a heart of sincerity with
the heart of a believer with a soul of goodness and inshallah you will be able to benefit from their
attendance of the masjid rather than becoming a person who has chased others away. And perhaps like
I say, when they come, they may become spiritually higher than me and you in no time. May Allah
subhanho wa Taala opened our doors really, this was a topic that had to be discussed because they
		

			are massage it sometimes and Mashallah we have this machine This is our policy. We would not like to
pressurize a single person who attends the masjid in the house of Allah subhanho wa Taala in any way
whatsoever brother we love you for the sake of Allah sister we love you for the sake of Allah
subhanho wa Taala if there is anything we can do and hamdulillah if we cannot do excuse us, if you
have any good points, let us know if there are any further
		

			Example recommendations or positive criticism, please let us know this is the attitude and this is
how inshallah we will improve. If you attend the house of Allah and you're feeling in any way
natural or you're feeling any way put pressure upon, please let us know who is that who is putting
pressure upon you. You are meant to come here with utmost respect you are a VIP, you are a guest of
Allah subhanho wa Taala and we are so proud to be able to serve you proud in the sense that we are
happy and we ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to help us to help one another. For indeed if we help one
another we are part and parcel of the aroma of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam who will be
		

			fulfilling this role and May Allah subhanahu wa taala bless us all until we meet again or sallallahu
wasallam or Baraka, Allen Amina Muhammad