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| How my Mosque failed me! |
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| Thursday, 08 May 2008 | |
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From the age of 4 until the age of 17 I attended my local Mosque for my madrassa education everyday Monday to Saturday, two hours a day. I was taught to recite the Qur'an, memorise essential duas, taught to do wudhu, taught to read salaah, and was told many stories about the Prophets (may peace be upon them all) and sahabas, I even learnt to read Urdu so I could learn hundreds of rules and regulations that I will probably have no need for! At times I hated it. I wanted to take part in after-school events. I wanted to watch Saturday Morning Live. However, at 18 I went to university met many young Muslims some of whom didn’t even know the basis of their faith and felt pride in how my Mosque and my community had educated me in Islam. It had done a good job in teaching me everything I would need to know to be a good Muslim. Or had it? Now at 24, I am only just beginning to broaden my reading and find out the ‘real’ world and only now do I realise the extent of my Mosque’s failure towards me. I know nothing about Judaism, Christianity, Zionism, the Muslim struggle and of course Islam and its history beyond the life of the four Khalifas. I have little understanding of what the Zionist movement is. I have little appreciation for what the Palestinians go through on a day-to-day basis. But worse than this I know not how to defend my faith, my religion and my beliefs which is just as important as praying my salaah and keeping my fasts. However, it’s never too late. It’s not too late for us and it’s not too late for our children. We can still teach each other and our children about our history. We can help understand the causes of today’s problems. We can educate each other on what we can do to show our support. We need to arm ourselves with knowledge, only when we do this we can educate others and show them the beauty of Islam. To learn more about the Role of the Mosque in our communities and what we can do to improve them come along to our free event: Join us on Saturday 24th, May
1:30 - 5:00pm
Luther King House
Brighton Grove (off Wilmslow Rd)
Manchester
M14 5JP
Book Now as places are limited
Call 0870 7605594 or book online by emailing us at: info@mpacuk.org
Refreshments will be provided
"We are all better than we know; if only we can be brought to realise this. We may never again be prepared to settle for anything less"           Readers have left 6 comments.
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Masha Allah!
Very good and inspiring article. We really do need to be more active and our mosques can be much more than what they currently are. Count me in. I'll be at the Manchester event Insha Allah. WS
(1)
2008-05-09 18:00:31
sameena:
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Very good article, i must admit i had the same mind set, I think its only when we realise how bad the situation is and look outside our little town or closed community we realise the impact of just how bad the mosques are failing us.
(2)
2008-05-10 09:10:33
EH?:
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Why don't criticise yourself for not reading up on Zionism, Christianity etc. yourself at 18? 19? or 20?
Was there anything stopping you? Granted, your mosque should have taught you that. But, as they say, when you point your finger at someone else, there are four fingers pointing back at you. You failed yourself - you just don't know it.
(3)
2008-05-11 08:00:35
Great article:
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Alhamdillah, at least the writer of this article, had courage and TRUE FAITH to acknowledge what he has learnt about himself, and what he hasn't been taught.
That is a very good starting point, Alhamdillah. May Allah SWT make it easy on you and now, you can begin a brillaint journey. There's hope at last, Alhamdillah. Always is. Be great to hear more stories like these. Have you noticed, when articles on other stuff, they get loads of viewers, people adding comments but stories like this - you don't get high number of people leaving comments. Anyway, this is great news.
(4)
2008-05-11 16:14:45
Kaya:
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Why don't criticise yourself for not reading up on Zionism, Christianity etc. yourself at 18? 19? or 20? — EH?Was there anything stopping you? Granted, your mosque should have taught you that. But, as they say, when you point your finger at someone else, there are four fingers pointing back at you. You failed yourself - you just don't know it. I think rather than criticise the author on his/her shortcomings it's time for us to accept that our Mosques/Madressa's can be doing so much more for our youth and for the Ummah. Unless the problems the Muslims face today are highlighted we aren't able to read around them and yes each individual has a duty to enhance his/her knowledge and act upon this...but the Mosque must accept it also has responsibility towards it's community and plays a HUGE role in educating it! Remember CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is the first step to improving ourselves!
(6)
2008-05-12 16:54:45
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Not so long ago I defended my Mosque claiming it provided everything the Muslim community needs. It provides praying facilities for both men and women, provides Islamic education for children and adults. The Mosque is there in times of celebration and in times of needs.
