Concept of Masajid in Islam

Uses Of The Mosque
Importance of the mosque The mosque was one of the first institutions established by the Messenger of Allah (saw) after the hijrah to Madinah in 622 CE; and to emphasis its important role, he (saw) personally took part in its construction.
The mosque has always been central to the affairs of the Muslim Ummah throughout the history of Islam. It played a key role in maintaining the unified body of the Muslims and acted as a springboard for the Islamic da‘wah to the rest of the world, as opposed to the mundane role that it plays today.
The roles of the mosque
During the time of the Messenger of Allah (saw), the emphasis was on the essence of the mosque rather than its physical appearance. Today the haste for building and decorating the mosque is more so than actually using it for the purpose that it designed for. The Messenger of Allah (saw) showed us the different roles that the mosque plays. The mosque is the place of prayer, it is a place for learning and teaching, it is a resting place for the travellers, a hospital for the sick, an eating place for the hungry and the needy and last but not the least, it was the head quarters of the Islamic State’s leadership.
Construction of mosques
Islam has made it an obligation on the Islamic State to build and maintain the mosque, and a mandub act for the individuals. It has been reported on the authority of ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “He who builds a mosque for the sake of Allah, seeking the pleasure of Allah, will be rewarded by Allah with a dwelling in Heaven.”
Allah's Masajid Or Leaders' Fortresses
When Muhammad (saw) established the Islamic State in Medina, the Masjid that he constructed served a multitude of functions that were instrumental in maintaining the integrity and solidarity of the State. Muslims would gather within the Masjid walls to exchange ideas, discuss the vital issues that confronted them, and to administer the functions of the State. In the Masjid, the Prophet (saw) taught Islam to the Muslims, met with non-Muslim delegates, judged among people, set armies on missions, etc. The Masajid provided an open forum for the circulation and cultivation of ideas that served to maintain the elevated intellectual status and clarity of Islamic concepts in the minds of the public.
Throughout the Islamic State, the Masajid helped to sustain the vibrancy and dynamism of Islamic concepts as centres of education, exchanging ideas, and discussing the problems and contemporary issues of the Ummah with enlightenment. Today, in the absence of Islam as a political force and the resulting subjugation of the Ummah by Kufr from all fronts, the Masajid possess a vital role in the process of revival that the Muslims cannot afford to underestimate or overlook.
In the absence of the Khilafah as a strong political entity to shield the Ummah, Muslims today feel stranded, alone, and isolated, like stray sheep surrounded by wolves with no shepherd to shelter them. The Masajid provide a place for Muslims to converge and reinstate the feeling of unity and brotherhood that centuries of intellectual onslaught by the Kuffar has dampened and the political disunity maintained by the Muslim regimes continues to censor. As community centres where Muslims gather to exchange ideas and invest in indoctrinating their families and youth with Islamic education, the Masajid should ideally assume the role of revitalising the Islamic way of life by serving as the crucible that melts away the thoughts and ideas of Kufr and feeds the flame of the Islamic revival.
Unfortunately, those who have assumed the position of leadership have, through their personal interests and political submission to the interests of the Kuffar, caused the Masajid to fail miserably in nurturing brotherhood and consolidation among the Ummah and in empowering the Islamic revival by consolidating the Ummah's resources towards re-establishing the Khilafah and revitalising the Ummah's political initiative in the world. Instead of providing an open forum for the circulation of ideas and the development of Islamic thought, the Masajid have metamorphosed from instruments of Islamic revival and veins of solidarity among the Ummah into fortresses teeming with security where the development and exchange of ideas remain under tight scrutiny and the affairs of the Ummah barred and stagnated by rigid shackles of control.
Rather than serving as the crucible where Kufr melts and Islam ignites, such fortress-Masajid maintain an Ice-Box atmosphere that works to harden the existing Kufr and freeze the momentum of the masses in initiating a change in the Ummah's deplorable status quo. The control rod that manifests the fortress environment radiates from a static hierarchical pyramid of “leaders,” prominent scholars, and others bearing titles of eminence, who have handcuffed themselves in diligent servitude to their Lords in the West, in exchange for a lifetime of service by endeavouring day and night to kill the fruits of the Islamic Da’wah. Such “leaders” - as they have the audacity to announce themselves as such - have exchanged the Deen of Allah (swt) for the transient pleasures of this life by bartering the Ayat of Allah (swt) for a few crumbs thrown to them by their masters in the White House and the Land of Saud in much the same way as a pedestrian throws crumbs of bread on the park curb for the flocks of birds who scavenge the sewage muck.
A person who p***ges himself into such an environment in a quest to experience a sense of belonging and self-revival but lacking the political sharpness to realise who resides at the control panels would discover to his dismay that he is alone, everything around him moves in a controlled, monotonous fashion, and forces act from all directions to mould him into the static ineffectiveness of a life of donations, writing letters, baseless khutbas, and a showering epic tale conferences that provide an abundance of glamour but a scarcity of solutions. Most of the Ummah who seek to nurture their children with Islamic personalities and contribute their resources towards reviving the Muslims from their bleak status quo are unsuspectingly swept by the currents of assimilation into the tasteless, stagnant life of “20th century Islam” which stifles the dynamism of the Islamic Da’wah with the democratisation of Islam.
Those who assume the intellectual initiative and emulate the Seerah of the Prophet (saw) in working towards restructuring the society according to the Shariah suffer a fate much worse. As soon as they raise their voice and begin calling for the total implementation of Islam and the destruction of all facets of Kufr, the fortress walls descend for the kill. Such an ideological personality - one that truly would spearhead the Ummah's revival - is instead silenced, his name and reputation tossed between weddings, conferences, banquets and gatherings and stripped of its dignity by a vicious backbiting campaign. All relations are abruptly severed between him and the community, and, whenever he steps into the Masjid, conference, or gathering, he receives cold, empty stares, he finds his words and advice resounding off deaf ears, and he finds himself alone - a stranger in the world that he belongs.
The mere presence of the fortress style of administration smacks of mockery and contempt. During the early Islamic State, even the Khalifah slept without guards, yet today, as mute testimony to the state of the Ummah, armies of security squadrons patrol the Muslims within their own Masajid to fend the relentless onslaught of the malevolent, ominous danger of a few Muslims and their vicious, atrocious tactics of asking questions or demanding a daleel. In the meantime, the Khateeb or speaker stands tall and dignified, a beacon of hope and enlightenment whose Kufr-stained words and Kufr-trained Ph.D. and Kufr-maimed ideas all combine to polish the Daii's prison halls and beef up the masjid's fortress walls.
Those who wish to reinstitute the Houses of Allah (swt) towards their rightful status must strive to topple the fortress walls that guard the Kufr that seeps into the Muslim mind and jails the Islamic thoughts from attaining fruition. As it stands today, those, in charge of administering the affairs of the Ummah and directing the revival process have renovated the Masajid into citadels that bar the Ummah from its intellectual and cultural identity and allow Kufr thoughts and ideas to flourish within its confines by issuing drugs every Jum'a to those who reside within its battalions and mesmerise the Ummah into an opious pattern of begging the Kuffar, chasing abstract concepts of unity and revival mottled with human innovation and imagination, and attending lavish banquets and seminars devoid of tangible solutions. The Ummah must strive to reconstruct the Masajid as open forums where any person, group, or institution from within its body can present its ideas and the Ummah, untainted or distracted by any vague, ambiguous ideas or erroneous concepts, can evaluate all of the possibilities and, naturally arrive at the correct solution and establish from within itself the correct structure that will initiate the correct revival. The Masajid belong to Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saw) and not to the Horde of Directors or any other honeycomb from any rulers' beehive. “And Masajid belong to Allah, so call none next to Him.” [TMQ Al-Jinn: 18]
During the days of the Sahabah and their successors, the Masajid were an open platform for all types of Islamic thought. When Omar became the 2nd Khalifah, he gave his inauguration speech saying, "If you see crookedness in me correct it ...” A man stood up waving his sword and said, "O Omar, if we see crookedness in You, we will correct it with our sword." The man addressed the Khalifah of all Muslims, he did not address an Imam of a Masjid. This honourable companion and Khalifah did not do what Muslims nowadays do. He did not throw him out of the Masjid or call him a trouble maker. He said, "Al-Hamdulillah that He (swt) created in the Ummah of Muhammad someone who corrects Omar with his sword."