Clean masjid and 'da'wah'

WE ARE not sure how many Islamic states in the world run competitions for clean masjid and good masjid library management, but Brunei Darussalam and its recent clean masjid contest deserve praises for the exercise.

According to the Acting Director of Mosque Affairs, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Hj Abdul Kahar Hj Hussin, the competition was meant to provide motivation to officers of masjids to take care of the cleanliness, while giving more attention to the facilities' restrooms. This is a form of da'wah because it tells people across the Muslim world and beyond that cleanliness is Islamic.

If we travel and make a point of visiting the masjid everywhere we go, we will find that there are simply too many masjids, which are actually the houses of Allah, which are unkempt and marked with neglect.

In some major cities in several Muslim countries, surau often means a small, dark and dusty corner adjacent to the toilet of a mall, office or any other buildings, where the telekung (the outer garments that women wear during salat) are often smelly and dirty. This situation is contemptible and is doing the Islamic da'wah a disservice — the non-Muslims or anyone who do not know much about Islam might get the misperception that Muslim worshippers are careless people.

Da'wah is a religious obligation that falls upon us all wherever we are: During personal meetings, in the marketplace, through the Internet, da'wah is fard kifa{aci}yah. That means if a sufficient number of people carry it out, then the duty is fulfilled for everyone. The managers of the clean masjid in Tutong, Belait and Temburong and other places that have won the competition have contributed in the da'wah and dispensed with the obligation.

Having said that, however, we need to advance the discussion and ask: Is there anyway we can hold competitions that encourage more people, especially men, to perform their salat in the masjid?

We are an Islamic state and we have so many masjids throughout the country, but if we were honest we would admit that very often those masjids remain largely empty during prayer times. They fill up predictably during Ramadhan and Eid celebrations, but rarely do we see the same sight during the five obligatory prayers every day.

A clean masjid is not enough. We want to see a clean masjid that is full of men (and women, who are not obligated to observe salat in the masjid) during all prayer times. If they are not, then that means something is lacking in the da'wah movement here, and something is lacking in the way that we, as individual Muslims, dispense with our da'wah obligation.

An empty, even if clean, masjid tells us that da'wah has failed to convince the Muslim men that they are religiously obligated to observe salat at masjid rather than at home. Men and women who are careless about their worship, letting work and other activities preoccupy them so much that they miss out on any numbers of salat, also tells us that more needs to be done for da'wah. Men and women who do not even try to perform the ibadah sunnah, who do not read the Quran

We need to do more than holding competitions for clean masjid. This calls for some creativity, which the Bruneian Muslims have in abundance actually. Why not hold competitions for masjid with the most worshippers? Competitions for masjid that faithfully organise children's programmes so they grow up with their hearts attached to the masjid? How about contests for masjids that manage to gather at least 10 shaf of men during fajr and ashar prayers?

People can debate about whether such contests are doable, but at least the exercise will really force managers of masjid to think up ways to invite (no, to call) Muslims to rush to Allah every time the adhan sounds. Just like what the signboards at the Jame' Ashr say: Tiada panggilan setanding panggilan Ilahi. (There is no call like the call to Allah.)