I wish to refer to the Kuliah Maghrib given by YM Ustaz Ishak Din last night (23rd October 2008) in which an “argument” over the above subject broke up between YM Ustaz and me. I am not trying to justify my stand here, but I just would like to state that my behaviour was most unbecoming to the Ustaz of whom I have great respect for, and to the Jamaah. I am not trying to offer any excuses. It is just that I should not have behaved the way I did. Hereby I wish to ask forgiveness from everyone who was present. I felt now I was behaving like a spoilt brat.
2. On the subject of collection of alms/derma in masjid/surau, this is the first time I am hearing it is haram. We are seeing that in almost all masjid, especially on Fridays. Normally before the Imam goes up the mimbar to read the sermon boxes for alms (tabung derma masjid) are passed round saf by saf. In fact in this respect Ustaz Datuk Ismail Kamus had made a joke out of it, that when the box is about to reach someone, he will quickly stand up to sembahyang sunat! I would assume then that even to Datuk this practice is ok, certainly not haram. In fact in Masjid Jamik Pasir Putih Kelantan, immediately after Friday prayers, the Noja or Tok Siak will go round to everyone saf by saf carrying along an “uncang” to collect derma from the jamaah. Certainly there are a lot of Ustaz and Ulamaks there who would stop this practice if it is haram.
3. On the subject of status of surau and masjid, apart from several other ustazs who have given their opinion on this, I will just quote a paragraph from the book “Pedoman Shalat” written by the late Prof. Dr. T.M. Hasbi Ash-Shiddieqy page 36:
“Juga pengertian mereka tentang ‘makna mesjid’, sangat berlainan dengan yang sebenarnya. Banyak berpaham bahwa yang dinamai mesjid, hanyalah tempat mendirikan Juma’at saja. Pada hal segala tempat yang ditasbielkan (diwaqafkan) untuk umum berjama’ah, dipandang dan dinamai ‘mesjid’. Karena itu tempat-tempat yang dinamai langgar atau surau tempat penduduk sesuatu kampung berjama’ah, dipandang mesjid”.
Wallahu a’lam.
et
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Surau?
For a start I am no expert in this area. Neither am I that religious, nor am I religiously learned or trained, in Islamic religion that is. And I have never been to an Arabic school or a pondok or even madly taught religion, Islam that is.
What I am writing here is purely my own thoughts, and what I picked up here and there in my off and on Muslim religious classes.
The way I see it, ‘surau’ is solely a Malay invention, Malay from Malaysia that is and doesn’t include from other Countries (political borders). Why ‘surau’? Just to distinguish a small prayer house (even big in some cases) from a masjid (mosque) where the weekly Friday prayer is allowed to be performed. Allowed by whom? By the Authority that ‘controls’ Islamic religious activities in Malaysia. Why not make a ‘surau’ a place for Friday prayers? They, I mean the Authority, can if they want to (and they have done so in some places that meet their criteria), but they have certain criteria (which not many of us are well learned with) in this area before they turn the ‘surau’ into a Masjid (Mosque), they call these masjida as Masjid Jamek, where Friday (Jumaat) prayers are allowed to be performed.
Many Ustaz differ in their opinions what can be performed and what cannot be performed, what should be performed and what should not performed in a ‘surau’. Depend really on their earlier training, their places of religious schooling, the U they go to and some time their age (young or old) or even what sort of Islamic religious material they read, the crowed ore society the mix with, and the ‘kitab’ they follow.
Lets list down what we have heard. The list does not end here, others (readers of this blog) may add more of what they heard to this list. Each Ustaz came out with his interpretation of the Koraanic verses and the Hadiths.
1. Some say that no Tahiyatul Masjid prayers can be performed in a ‘surau’ while others say that such prayer can or may be performed.
2. Some say that ladies who are menstruating cannot enter a ‘surau’ because they are ‘dirty’ while other say that they can enter provided they do not taint the carpet (or floor) where prayers are performed. (Others have even said that ladies who are menstruating may even enter a masjid with privision as above).
3. Some Ustaz say that one cannot collect donations in a masjid but may do so in a ‘surau’.
Did Prophet Muhammad PBUH have ‘surau’ or masjid in his days? Or might be in his days, some of his masjid might even be smaller than existing Malaysian ‘surau’ and even might not even be so well furnished.
Please give some more views.
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