Yaser Birjas – Why Is It So Important To Attend The Masjid
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
My dear brothers and sisters,
I just came back from my trip
to Bosnia,
a country that I lived in for 4
years, alhamdulillah.
I love the country. I love the people,
their humbleness, humility, and their resilience.
I love so much of that place, subhanAllah,
that I take people with me throughout these
trips to teach them about
the country and its history and its background
and what lessons we can learn from as
Muslims living in the West.
Brothers and sisters, on that trip, we visited
Masajid and we prayed in Masajid as 500
years old, as old as a slam in
that country,
and they're still operating until this day. However,
unfortunately,
we've seen some of these massages been abandoned.
Some of them were destroyed.
Some of them, they lost their purpose, unfortunately.
We've seen throughout history
how many regimes,
contemporary and also traditionally in the past, they
targeted the massages.
They targeted the massages.
Even in our time today,
we've seen that in the contemporary time. Look
at Bosnia not too long ago in 19
nineties,
and then look at India today, and what's
happened to the Masjid? In China,
what's happened to the Muslims to their Masjid
as well too? We see with their own
eyes, and not too long ago, we have
seen it as well, and we're still watching
it and seeing it in Gaza.
The Masjid being blown up completely
under the watch of the entire world,
and they're documenting that.
All these war crimes,
and not just the masajid,
now they're targeting even the worshipers. At least
in the other regimes, they don't target the
people when they're in the masajid when people
are there.
But this regime
waits for the people to gather in the
masjid and then target that masjid.
Brothers and sisters
would come to the masjid.
It's a symbolic thing,
and destroying it is also a symbolic thing.
And when it comes to destroying the matter,
it's not only just about the physical building
itself to be removed and destroyed,
it's destroying the purpose of it. Like you
will find so many beautiful massages, they are
only for taking pictures.
We have so many Masajid around the world,
and unfortunately not much worshipers in there.
Subhanallah, one of the saddest moments in our
trip there in Bosnia. We were in the
city of Mostar.
And the the first thing we do once
we arrive to the hotel,
looking around us, the nearest masjid. Where is
the closest masjid? So we can participate and
pray with the people and the locals to
get to know them and, you know, share
with them, alhamdulillah, our Muslim sentiments and so
on. So the closest masjid was about 6
minutes' walk.
So at Fajr time, we gather in the
lobby with the group who want us to
come with us. We walk to the masjid,
and the masjid is closed.
And that masjid is more than 460
years old.
Hamdulillah is still standing
and still there,
and it looks like, you know, it's still
operative,
but unfortunately at Frederick time, there are not
so many people, so the the masjid says
says close.
We thought maybe, you know, just for 2
days. The following day is the same thing
and the following day is the same thing.
Unfortunately, we realized we were the only people
coming together in the courtyard of the Masjid
just to pray because we were unable to
enter that Masjid.
That's the sad reality of many Masjid in
the Muslim world, and some of them in
the West.
Brothers and sisters, we live in the West,
and don't say that we're immune of that
destiny if we don't really pay attention to
our communities,
to our Masjid,
and the value of it, and they're
all beyond just coming for salah,
beyond just coming to attend salah to jum'ah
and Eid,
there is much more we need to know
about our masajid.
Why do you think when Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala,
he sent Adam?
And even before Adam,
Allah
tells this ummah,
that the first house was ever built to
mankind on this earth, it wasn't a house
for Adam.
It wasn't a house for him, for his
family. No, it wasn't.
It was a house of worship, the
house that you see in Mecca, Mubarak, a
blessed house.
Why is that? Allah mentioned about this Mubarak,
and guidance to the world, to all the
worlds.
And that is the purpose of this house
of Allah
to be guidance to the world,
not just to me,
not just to you, not just to your
family, to the whole world.
When people look for Islam and want to
learn about the meaning of this life and
they find that Muslims, alhamdulillah, they have something
to offer, where would they go? They would
come to the masjid. They bring them to
the masjid.
If you have a friend who's interested about
Islam, we usually bring them to the masjid.
Many many people the first time they move
their community, they look where the masjid is.
Who does mean? There's so much guidance that
we can find in the house of Allah
The prophet
he mentioned
that the most beloved spots on earth to
Allah
are the houses of Allah the Masjid.
You guys are sitting in one of the
best places that Allah
loves on this earth. Why would you want
to abandon this or leave it?
Why would you want to be somewhere else?
Well, it's time for and
be in a place that Allah loves.
And he said, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
the worst are the marketplaces
and we know why. But the most beloved
place, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is this place
that you're in right now. And when it
comes to the masjid, it doesn't matter if
this masjid is big or small, if it's
known or unknown, if it's in a fancy
or otherwise. It doesn't really matter.
As long as it's been dedicated sincerely for
the sake of Allah
it gives that same purpose of guidance.
The prophet
says in the hadith,
whoever builds a house for Allah
even if it was the size of a
bird's nest,
how big is that? How many people can
you fit in a bird's nest, Ajamal?
But the prophet has given
us now the meaning of it. It's not
about the building itself and what it represents.
The heart that built this place,
the intention,
the niyyah,
and the sincerity in the hearts of the
people who come, that's what matters the most.
Those who truly fulfill the obligation of fulfilling
these houses of Allah
and erecting these houses and making sure that
they're well maintained.
Those who have faith in Allah
and the final day.
Brothers and sisters,
that the prophet
did exactly that same thing when he came
to Madinah.
Now put yourself in this situation. The prophet
all these years, 13 years in Mecca,
he's trying his best to give the dawah
to the people of Mecca, rejected him, and
they almost killed him. And now he's been
chased
out to the safe haven in Medina.
And the moment he arrives, what is the
first thing on his mind?
What is the first thing that was in
his mind
is to build a masjid.
Build a masjid.
Why is that? Is it just to get
the people to pray? Because they've already been
praying before the prophet
even arrived. As a matter of fact, they
even prayed in a place in Jammah before
the prophet even arrived. This place, if you've
ever been to Madinah and you walk the
walk for Masjid Nabi to Quba, there's a
masjid on the side called Masjid
al Jum'ah.
He guard the people together to pray over
there. So it's not about that, it's about
what really the masjid represents.
And when the people understood
the role of the masjid
in their lives, masjid starts coming out and
popping in every corner of the city of
Rasulullah
Almost every neighborhood built a masjid for themselves.
You know the story of Muadhib bin Jabal
radiAllahu an. He used to pray in the
masjid of Rasulullah,
And then he goes back to his neighborhood
masjid to lead them in salah. And the
people patiently waiting for Mu'ad to come to
lead their salah. There's a masjid called Masjid
Bani Zurayik. There are many many masjid. The
masjid of al kibla where people they're praying
and their kibla changed and we know the
story. So the masjids were all over the
place. It wasn't just the masjids of Rasulullah
because we understood the value of having a
masjid, not just in their community,
in their lives.
So brothers and sisters,
our masjids,
they play a major role in our lives
as Muslims. They're a place for us to
come and worship Allah
Sometimes we feel broken and we come to
repair that breakage here in the Masjid.
We come to the Masjid because I want
to learn something new.
I want to increase in my faith. How
can I do this if I don't know
much really about it? And where is the
best place to come learning from with like
minded people, alhamdulillah,
in the same community and helping others to
one another?
This masjid, mashaAllah, as you can see, hosts
diversity.
The most diverse place on earth probably you'll
find in a masjid,
especially here in the west, when you find
people from all walks of life, all backgrounds,
all their own home origins, and you name
it. And they stand up next to each
other and they worship Allah
exactly the same way.
That brings us, alhamdulillah, the constant of unity
and constant equality,
constant of being together as brothers and sisters
in faith.
These messages, my dear brothers and sisters, help
us
reach beyond
our own selves.
It gives us opportunity to volunteer,
to reach out to other communities around us,
locally
and globally.
Subhanallah, as individuals, I'm not be able to
help my brothers and sisters in Gaza or
in Sudan or in India or anywhere else
in the world, but collectively
we get together and we help and assist
one another.
We also, in our local communities, we know
some people are in need of assistance or
help, whether it's financial,
emotional, whatever support they need. And alhamdulillah, when
we get here, we start networking
and to understand
the skills that we have in our community,
the talents we have in our community, and
we help and assist one another.
Brothers and sisters,
as we see the ocean of, unfortunately, immorality
that is spreading in the world today, under
the guise of liberal, of course, ideals and
ideologies and so on, and how parents are
scared for their own kids. There's this. Even
when you send them in a place that's
supposed to teach them character, such as schools,
parents are so scared of that right now.
So they come to the Masjid,
and they want to make sure that, alhamdulillah,
their kids are taught the proper akhlaq and
manzulillah, at least the proper etiquette
and knowing exactly their identity as Muslims and
staying as Muslims.
MashaAllah, our masajid works like a bridge between
us and different generations
and different cultures with our neighbors around us,
alhamdulillah,
and even this masjid, masjid, has been recognized
by the state of Texas actually for its
service during COVID. We were reaching out to
a lot of communities where everyone was hiding.
We were going out there to be on
the front line to help and assist those
who are helping others in that difficult time,
and it was recognized, alhamdulillah, for
the good service that we've been given, and
that's all because of people like you here
in the Masjid.
Brothers and sisters,
these masajid,
alhamdulillah,
give us a lot of opportunities of khair
for us in this dunya and in the
akhirah. And I'm asking each and every one
of you over here to remember that.
Remember that. And I wanna,
welcome
all the brothers and sisters, the visitors who
came here for attend the the ISNA Convention.
I want to welcome you to Dallas, welcome
you to Valley Ranch Islamic Center, and our
favorite activist statement, we say, welcome home.
But I want you to take that also
feeling of home with you to your own
communities.
When you're done, inshallah, from the purpose that
you came here for,
make sure to take that spirit with you.
Even if your masjid is small masjid,
even if you say my community is not
as big as yours or as active as
yours or whatever that is that you think
about your own communities,
why don't you make it better, InshaAllah,
One step at a time, one person at
a time, one program, one activity at a
time
We need to make sure that these masaads
are well taken care of.
We need to make sure that our masaads,
alhamdulillah, well maintained.
And without your presence, my dear brothers and
sisters in the masjid, how is this going
to happen?
How possibly this thing is going to happen?
We need you to come to the Masjid
and offer also your help and your assistance,
Insha Allahu Ta'ala. Many of us, alhamdulillah, we
see young families
coming back to the mezzan right now because
they need activities for their children. Let's create
for them family programming,
activities for the brothers and for the sisters,
for the young parents, who may be the
first time parents,
young married couples, people going through difficulties and
hardships. Let's teach them something, inshaAllah, about their
marital life and their family life as well
too. We need that together. Also, we need
to make sure that our kids, alhamdulillah,
they have enough education
and inshaAllah,
the proper education,
especially if they go to public schools.
But without your help and your assistance and
coming to fill your masajid and your communities,
that's not going to happen.
So please
make sure that you take this message with
you when you go home,
and if you're
local, I want you to start coming to
the Masjid more often.
Jum'ah has not enough for Jum'ah. Alhamdulillah, I
mean right now at Fajr we serve a
beautiful beautiful gathering. We usually
average 300 people, Alhamdulillah, today probably double that
number. And I'm sure many of them, mashallah,
guests here coming for Saad al Fajr, alhamdulillah
And that's a great blessing to have the
masjid at Fajr being full, but we need
this to be the case every single day.
And we need this to become part of
our lives. Please
make the Masjid, the house of Allah
a central space and place in your hearts
and in your families InshaAllah life and in
your schedule on daily basis,
at least one salah.
At least one salah.
And if you're a neighbor of the Masjid,
you have no idea what you're missing when
you didn't come more often to the Masjid.
My dear brothers and sisters, our masads especially
in the west of here, they don't just
serve as masjids,
they serve as homes to everybody, as centers
of learning and living, InshaAllah,
for the purpose of serving this deen and
serving Allah
Our brothers and sisters are equally welcome to
come to the Masjid,
and we make sure that also it's open
for the sisters when they come to the
Masjid, because many masadas, unfortunately,
you know, the way they were designed, they
don't serve their purpose.
And no matter how much you try, it's
just a turn off, making sure that you
create an environment that is welcoming our brothers,
our sisters, our young ones, so that when
they come, they feel included,
and they feel
a part of this community. I urge you
and all of you to come more frequently
to the Masjid and bring your families with
you. Let our kids grow up in the
houses of Allah
Don't you ever feel a guest when you
come to the Masjid. You are the host,
and you belong in this place and making
sure that you do that insha'allah
and do it regularly.