I have so many things on my mind lately...and a few blogger posts out there have made me think about things too. Firstly I am well Alhamduillah, and baby is Mashallah doing well from last scan and testing...inshallah everything will stay well!
Secondly my Aunt is very sick and close to death...please keep her and her family in your dua's that she passes easily and that the family is comforted during this time...ameen.
So now on to the blog post that got me to thinking... one of them is about the state of Mosques
(this is the link to the post- my-suggestion-to-all-mosques)
I hope she doesn't mind me linking (if you do please let me know I'll remove it)
Talks about her suggestions of how to improve a Mosque...and I can't agree more with it! So many of the comments were spot on. I wrote about something like this in a previous blog (or at least I think I did...well if not I've wanted to for a while!) about how differently Mosques are from - for example - Catholic churches. Ok, of course they should be different but I'm not meaning theology wise, but how they are run and used, etc. We have all seen so many unruly children in the Mosque (if you haven't then, mashallah the parents and community are doing well!) I just cannot imagine being a child and running up and down along the pews of a church! Not to mention when prayer is being said!!
I had one instance at the Mosque of a child kneeling right in front of me while I was in prostration and smiling at me. I mean yeah it was cute...but I really wanted to concentrate on my prayer, especially while in prostration. Then there are those children running around the prayer hall making all kinds of noises while people try to pray, etc. I mean really ...its just sad. I can understand that Mosques will not have money for proper facilities and such, but this issue of the kids running around is the parents duty. I guess some people feel that children should be allowed to 'run free', I think it maybe because of a hadith that said that the Prophet Mohammed was praying and allowed a child to play on his back, but he continued to pray. Somehow I feel this is different. (someone correct me if that is not a hadith and just hearsay)
On the topic of Hadith's there was another blogger who posted about Hadith
I remember when I was first learning about Islam and when I realized what Hadith's were I kind of got a 'bad' feeling. Now, don't all jump at me and say "how can you have a bad feeling about Hadith's" What I mean about 'bad' in this context is that I when I realized they were 'man made words, not directly from God' I got nervous that there could be mistakes in them. I later found out that yes, there are 'weak' hadiths as well as 'strong' ones. Hence my bad feelings.
I mean let's be honest, as a convert or anyone for that matter who does not look up and study a Hadith, we can believe a 'weak' one easily - I mean how would we know?
Some one says, 'oh this and this is a hadith, so we have to believe it' Well, yeah ok it's a Hadith, but it may be a weak one!? I felt very early on that I wanted to be a 'Quran' only believing Muslim, apparently there are such Muslims, but they are 'looked down upon' in the community. Now once again, I realize that the Hadiths are there to compliment the Quran.
For example, prayer is mentioned in the Quran several times, but the actual way to do it is in the Hadith's or Sunnah (ways) of the Prophet. So, yes I realize we need Hadith's on how to proceed with our daily lives, etc. My only problem is when people seem to put Hadiths ahead of Quran.
I feel that I cannot go wrong if I live my life by the teachings of the Quran, and inshallah Allah will guide me to the right ways in life, and forgive me when I make mistakes and show me the right from the wrong.
So what do you all have to say about these 2 topics? I would love to hear some ideas that you have!
