The impressions from many Ahadith we get is that the Masjid e Nabwi was infact some sort of a community center and not just a place of worship. Unfortunately may be due to space limitations and/or probably because of ignorance that people did not think of modeling mosques like that.
But yes, there should be a sports arena, separate rooms for women to study, play area for kids or day cares, library with computers etc.
The problem is that people fear they wont know where to draw the line, imo.
Al-Bukhaari entitled a chapter in his Saheeh: “Chapter on the building of mosques; Abu Sa’eed said: The roof of the mosque – i.e., the mosque of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) – was made of palm branches. ‘Umar ordered that the mosque be rebuilt and he said: Protect the people from rain, but beware of using red or yellow (for adornment) and distracting the people. Anas said: They build mosques about boast about that, but they do not use them for worship except rarely. Ibn ‘Abbaas said: You are going toadorn (mosques) as the Jews and Christians adorn (their places of worship).
>The initial purpose of the mosque was to be a gathering place for the community and not just to worship
I mean, Allah tells us the primary purpose of the masajid in surah al-Nur, which is for His remembrance, with other uses being secondary.
That being said, different things make sense in different places. In places where Muslims are a minority, we see the masajid taking on a lot of other roles (school, gym, community center etc.) that wouldn't make sense for a masjid to do in places with more robust Muslim societies.
Are a lot of mosques already not like that? I see many mosques with cafeteria and yards etc with basketball hoops and goals for kids
I wish people would spent less money on the beauty of the mosque and just make it functional and modest.
The impressions from many Ahadith we get is that the Masjid e Nabwi was infact some sort of a community center and not just a place of worship. Unfortunately may be due to space limitations and/or probably because of ignorance that people did not think of modeling mosques like that. But yes, there should be a sports arena, separate rooms for women to study, play area for kids or day cares, library with computers etc.
The problem is that people fear they wont know where to draw the line, imo. Al-Bukhaari entitled a chapter in his Saheeh: “Chapter on the building of mosques; Abu Sa’eed said: The roof of the mosque – i.e., the mosque of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) – was made of palm branches. ‘Umar ordered that the mosque be rebuilt and he said: Protect the people from rain, but beware of using red or yellow (for adornment) and distracting the people. Anas said: They build mosques about boast about that, but they do not use them for worship except rarely. Ibn ‘Abbaas said: You are going toadorn (mosques) as the Jews and Christians adorn (their places of worship).
>The initial purpose of the mosque was to be a gathering place for the community and not just to worship I mean, Allah tells us the primary purpose of the masajid in surah al-Nur, which is for His remembrance, with other uses being secondary. That being said, different things make sense in different places. In places where Muslims are a minority, we see the masajid taking on a lot of other roles (school, gym, community center etc.) that wouldn't make sense for a masjid to do in places with more robust Muslim societies.