Have the Azmat for Masaajid
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
It is so that one may not lose the amal initially but he might lose the azmat (greatness), honor, respect, importance and attachment for that amal in his heart first and then loses the amal altogether. Sometimes he might have the mere face of the amal but deprived of its soul and spiritual noor.
When a man sits in a majlis with its azmat in his heart, he will derive benefit from it and will continually do that amal. When one comes to masjid without having any azmat and reverence for that place, he might come and go out of the masjid but he will not derive any benefit. Our beloved Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم) told with his truthful tongue that when one comes to masjid, for every step he takes, a good deed is written, a sin is erased and he is elevated by a rank. Such is this blessed act. The pious buzurg Abu Hasan (Raheemahullah) said, “It is not that people come to masjid with bad-niyyat (bad intention) but yes they can come with be-niyyat (without intention)”.When someone goes to the court, how he will have in his mind constantly that this is court and he will remain silent maintaining the etiquettes of the court? So how magnificent place is the Masjid for it is the house of Allah Ta’ala, the King of the kings? If a person enters the masjid with honor and respect for the place and an attachment to the place, he will come out as a great man with Imaan. That is why our beloved Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم)gave such an importance to this amal so that when muslims come to the masjid, they go out of the masjid with a great number of blessings.
It comes in a Hadeeth that “Whoever builds a mosque for Allah Ta’ala – though be it the size of a bird’s nest, Allah will build for him a house in Paradise.”
Now a masjid may not be of the size of a nest and what it means is that if someone contributes to the masjid even to the size of a nest, a very small space, Allah Ta’ala will build a house for him in jannah. What a fantastic trade! If someone who is very trustworthy who keeps up his words says that if someone builds a house in a small town and he will get a house in posh area, how we will rush to build a house. The sad thing is muslims today do not trust the words of the Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم)from heart as they would trust anyone. Aforetime, muslims did not have paid servants to clean the masaajid for muslims themselves used to clean the masjid after fajr salah and they used to think that as their shahadat. Today we have left the masajid as the most unclean places and that is why Allah left our homes as unclean with lots of sins and shayateen inside the houses. We should maintain more etiquette when it comes to masjid than we would maintain in a court for masajid are abodes of Allah Ta’ala
It is not allowed to raise the voice inside the masjid. Sleeping inside the masjid is a bad thing except the one who is having itikaaf and the musafir (traveler). It is not allowed to have any business transaction inside the masjid and even to give salary to those working for masjid inside the masjid. It is not allowed to recite the Quran out loud when someone is praying inside the masjid. It is not allowed to enter the masjid eating raw onion, garlic or anything with pungent smell. It is not allowed to burn the kerosene inside the masjid when lighting up some flame and is not allowed to have very bright lights. When one enters the masjid, he should become an angel, all peaceful and in dhikr of Allah Ta’ala.
Do not rush to the masjid but go peacefully. One there is a sunnah itikaaf that is carried out in the last ten days of ramadhan and one we have nafil itikaaf. This can be 1 day or 2 days or 30 minutes or even 5 minutes or less. One should have itikaaf inside the masjid as best as he can. One can sit for itikaaf for few minutes after every salah even be it for three minutes and read the Quran. The one who cannot read the Quran should at least pass the finger over the ayat saying, “This is the speech of my Rabb. This is the speech of my Rabb”. When one can get noor sitting with pious people, how come one cannot get the noor when he sits in the company of the angels? Definitely they will feel the difference in their state when they do so. One thing is we can just start doing wudhu for salah without much attention and the other thing is we pay the attention that Allah Ta’ala wipes out the sins while doing wudhu and hence we concentrate on that perspective and when we do like this, see how we get the noor. Same goes with reciting Quran, we can just start reciting the Quran without proper intention but then when we think that Allah Ta’ala is listening to our recitation and we pay the heed, and then see how we get the noor.
It comes in a hadeeth that the most beloved places to Allah Ta’ala are masajid and the most hated places are markets. One should visit the markets only as per need and even when doing so he should recite the following dhikr, “laa ilaaha illaallaahu wahdahu laashareekalahu lahul mulku walahul hamdu yuhyi wayumeetu wahua alaa kulli shay’in qadeer”. One should never visit the markets for enjoyment. When describing the azmat of kaabatullah, it is said that even the worst shayateen cry at the doors of the kaaba. The cleaning of Kaabatullah is so blessed that in Surah Hajj, Allah Ta’ala is asking His khaleel Prophet Ibraheem عليه السلام to clean His house. One great buzurg was found to clean the kaaba during tahajjud time and with much difficulty he convinced the servant to let him allow to do that blessed act. In a hadeeth, it is said that when one removes even a speck of dust from the masjid, that amal would be taken as a mahr for the hoor-ul-ayn in jannah.
It was narrated through Abdullah ibn Masud رضي الله عنه that one of the signs of qayamat is people will not have azmat for masajid right being inside the masjid and they would not pray inside the masjid.
We see in these days that people come inside the masjid to look after some construction work but they do not pray tahiyyatul masjid. Aa’ishah رضي الله عنها said that the Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم ) commanded that mosques be built among houses and that they be cleaned and perfumed.”
If one looks down those who clean the masjid, abuses them then let him look at his own act. There was a pious man who was studying under a famous sheikh in Delhi and to remember his lessons, he went inside a jungle and he found there that a masjid was deserted with so much of dry leaves inside it giving out bad odor. Seeing this, he left learning his lessons and engaged in cleaning the masjid throughout the day. When he returned to his sheikh in the night and was asked to recall his lessons, his mind was blank and he feared his sheikh. When sheikh asked him where was he throughout the day, he told him about the masjid in jungle. Hearing this, the sheikh gave him the glad tidings that his job is done and Allah Ta’ala would grant him ilm-e-ludni, divine mystical knowledge granted by Allah Ta’ala Himself. It was just the azmat of Allah in his heart that he engaged in cleaning the masjid when there were no men watching him or someone to appreciate him. He was granted such a great knowledge that many great buzurgs like Shah Ismail sahib gave bayah to him for spiritual guidance. The service of masjid is such a great bounty.
When one enters a masjid, people normally say “Allahum-maftahli abwaaba rahmatik” (O Allah open the doors of mercy) but say “Bismillahi wassalatu wassalaamu alaa Rasoolillah. Allahum-maftahli abwaaba rahmatik” and when leaving say “Bismillahi wassalatu wassalaamu alaa Rasoolillah Allahumma inni -as’aluka min fadhlik” (Allahumma inni as’aluka min fadhlik -O Allaah, I seek of You Your Grace) for saying Bismillah and sending salawat on Rasulullah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَم is sunnat when entering and leaving the masjid.
There are five sunnats that is to be followed when entering the Masjid.
1) Saying Bismillah
2) Saying wassalatu wassalaamu alaa Rasoolillah
3) Entering masjid with right foot
4) Saying Allahum-maftahli abwaaba rahmatik
5) To have the intention of nafil itikaaf.
Three sunnats get accomplished in saying “Bismillahi wassalatu wassalaamu alaa Rasoolillah. Allah Ta’alaum-maftahli abwaaba rahmatik”. The rest two sunnats are just entering masjid with right foot and having the intention of itikaaf and this will make you enter masjid with an intention.
Similarly there are five sunnats while leaving the masjid, three sunnats is accomplished in saying, “Bismillahi wassalatu wassalaamu alaa Rasoolillah Allah Ta’alaumma inni as’aluka min fadhlik”.
The other two sunnahs are leaving the masjid with left foot and placing the left foot over the left shoe. Then while taking out the leg from the masjid say, “Allah Ta’alaumma inni as’aluka min fadhlik” and wear the right shoe.
In this way, one will get noor for ten sunnats for every salah and fifty sunnats will be recorded for five salahs and also the noor. Now for every one deed, we are promised ten rewards and so multiply 50 with 10, we get 500 rewards for every single day and ten is the minimum reward and for one whole month, we get around 15000 rewards for keeping these sunnats subhan allah! And inshaaAllah in the roze-mahshar, one will realize the noor and importance of these sunnats. So take heed of these sunnats.
If one’s amal goes with sunnat, then that is a great buzurgi thing to obtain. Once a man told Junaid Bhagdadi (Rahmatullahi ‘Alayh) that he heard about him a lot but he didn’t see any extra-ordinary thing in him. Junaid Bhagdadi (Rahmatullahi ‘Alayh)asked him if he has ever seen his acts contradictory to sunnah and the main replied in negative. So Junaid Bhagdhadi (Rahmatullahi ‘Alayh) said this is a great blessing. So nothing like flying in air, walking on sea is a buzurgi thing than one acting on sunnah and being steadfast on that. If one forgets to enter the masjid with right foot, let him come out and enter again with right foot and practice this every time he enter the masjid. Be grateful to Allah that He is bringing you into His house every day. Whom will you invite to your house? The one whom you love, isn’t? And how about someone whom you invite again and again to your house? That would be someone with whom you will have a close contact, isn’t it? So have the azmat for Allah Ta’ala and pay attention when visiting Allah Ta’ala’s house. inshaaAllah Ta’ala, you will be granted istiqamat. As said in the beginning, first it is the azmat that goes off from one’s heart and then the amal or sometimes the amal stays with the soul being take out. Take care of the sunnats when entering and leaving the masjid and gain the noor. Let Allah Ta’ala help us all to act on what we hear, write and read. Ameen.
Sheikh Maulana A Sattar (hafizahullah)
