In the wake of the conquest of Makkah, in the eighth year after the Hijrah, most of the Arabian Peninsular communities wittingly entered the fold of Islam. Those who declined to do so – covertly or otherwise – peacefully accepted the rule of Islam and the Muslims. It was around this time that the Prophet (pbuh) proclaimed that there is no Hijrah (migration) to Madinah after the take-over of Makkah; there remained only jihad and niyyah (intending good in all actions) afterwards.[1] The Prophet (pbuh) used to encourage people from then on to stay where they were, and to contribute whatever they could in implementing and disseminating the Word of God elsewhere, since “To Allah belongeth all that is in the heavens and on earth…” (al-Baqarah 284), and “To Allah belong the East and the West: whithersoever ye turn, there is Allah’s Face. For Allah is All-Embracing, All-Knowing.” (al-Baqarah 115)

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In Islam, believers, worship as a lifestyle, and the notion of the mosque as a community center, are inseparable. They originate from each other, needing one another for their proper functioning and continued existence. The mosque is as old as man on the earth, because the truth (Islam) is also as old. The first man and at the same time prophet, Adam, built the first mosques on the earth. The first mosques built were the al-Masjid al-Haram in Makkah and the al-Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem. The interlude separating the two ancient mosques was forty years.

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Introducing the Muslim market in Madinah

Since production and trade are two key elements for the development of a city, transformations that the city-state of Madinah underwent show that the markets of Madinah both conceptually and spatially had been affected too following the Hijrah. At first, the Muslims used to avail themselves of the existing markets most of which have been controlled by the Jews. In these markets the blasphemous and perverse Jews perpetrated many errant practices, so the Muslims gradually developed a strong aversion to doing business there. And so a new market controlled by the Muslim community was shortly set up.

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer
Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design
International Islamic University Malaysia
E-mail: spahico@yahoo.com
 

It was on account of the remarkable historical importance of the al-Masjid al-Aqsa that it served as the first qiblah (direction of prayer) to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his followers for about 18 months following the migration from Makkah to Madinah. After that, the qiblah was shifted towards the al-Masjid al-Haramin Makkah. Having faced in his prayers the two most ancient, and historically speaking the most significant, mosques on earth, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) thus acknowledged the validity and truthfulness of all the previous prophets and messengers and the original messages that had been revealed to them. In point of fact, moreover, believing in the earlier prophets and their original revelations constitutes one of the pillars of the message or the revelation revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Denying any earlier prophet, or any revelation of the original revelations, Islam views as a blasphemous act which rescinds one’s association with Islam and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) rendering him a non-Muslim.

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Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer
Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design
International Islamic University Malaysia
Email: spahico@yahoo.com

Since from the very beginning the mosque institution was the nucleus of the Muslim life and activities, a code of ethics for establishing and using it had to be created under the guardianship of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and divine revelation, lest some people might start misusing it, intentionally or otherwise, or might start developing a code of moral principles on their own which, as a rule, would have been dictated by the norms and rituals of the jahiliyyah (ignorance) era. However, as the religion of Islam was revealed to the Prophet (pbuh) gradually and in stages, through instructions, responses and answers to various dilemmas and developments confronting the nascent Muslim community, so that the heart of the Prophet (pbuh) and the hearts of his followers could be calmed, strengthened and galvanized, likewise the introducing and fully activating of the phenomenon of the mosque, the ground for the implementation of many a regulation and teaching of Islam, could not be an exception to the rule of gradual revelation and application of Islam. Such was a gradual process too, certainly no less painstakingly undertaken than the other aspects of Islam and its civilizational mission. While subjecting the evolution of the mosque to the golden principles of gradation and educational transformation, the Prophet (pbuh) proved to be very sensitive and responsive to the needs and capacities of the young but fast expanding Muslim community. In so doing, he was not hasty, impatient or autocratic. Rather, he was prudent, compassionate, resourceful and farsighted. He was the greatest teacher, pedagogue, reformer and psychologist. Definitely, the code of conduct for establishing and using mosques which was constructed by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) under the aegis of revelation is universal and timeless, applying to every time and space, as it is the case with the whole corpus of Islamic beliefs, values and principles.

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