Manners of Attending a Mosque (part 2 of 2)

Objective:

• To learn 12 additional etiquettes of attending the mosque.

Arabic Terms:

•     Masjid – the Arabic term for mosque
•     Imam – someone who leads the prayer.
•  Hadith –  (plural – ahadith) is a piece of information or a story. In Islam it is a narrative record of the sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad and his companions.
•  Adhan – an Islamic way of calling Muslims to the five obligatory Prayers.
•   Nafl – a voluntary act of worshi
•  Ruku’ – the bowing position in prayer.
• Rakah –  unit of prayer.
•    Fajr – the morning prayer.
•     Dhuhr – the afternoon prayer.
•     Sutrah –  a barrier a person puts in front of him while praying.

 A person must not rush to catch up prayer that is in progress at entering the masjid, because the Prophet forbade rushing in such a situation. Prophet Muhammad said:

“If the prayer started, then do not join it running, but join it walking and do it calmly, and pray whatever you caught up with, and make up for what you missed.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim)

If a Muslim arrives late to a prayer, he should say “Allahu Akbar” and join the congregation. If a rakah was joined after ruku’, then the entire rakah needs to be repeated after the prayer. So when the imam finishes with the prayer then you should stand up and make-up what you missed.

It is appropriate to join the back row and fill in all the spaces. If there is no more room, then a new row should start directly behind the imam, and more latecomers fill out to the right and to the left. Sisters should begin a new row in front if the row starts in the back.