UTT Throwback Thursday: What is the Purpose of a Mosque?

Hamas’ Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, VA (USA)

The Koran says Islam’s prophet Mohammad is a “beautiful pattern of conduct” (33:21) and an “exalted standard of character” (68:4).

Therefore, the purpose of a mosque is based on the example of Mohammad.

Mohammad used the mosque as the seat of Islamic government where sharia was adjudicated. It was a place for muslims to gather and learn about Islam. It was a place to plan battles and train jihadis. It was a place to store weapons.

A mosque is the place from which jihad is launched.

And, oh by the way, a mosque is used for prayer as well.

“In Muhammad’s time the mosque played an important role in encouraging muslims to wage jihad.”

Sheikh Yusuf al Qaradawi (Islamic scholar, Senior Jurist for the International Muslim Brotherhood)

“The mosque is the bastion of the great jihad”

Ayatollah Khomeini

“The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets, and the faithful our soldiers.”

Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan

Islamic Center of America mosque in Dearborn, Michigan (USA)

In Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. forces always found weapons in mosques.

In Europe, security officials find weapons in the mosques they raid.

In 2009, Imam Luqman Abdullah of the Masjid al Haq in Detroit, Michigan was shot and killed by law enforcement (FBI/local police) when he fired on them killing a police dog. One of the source’s in the case testified he/she participated in weapons training inside the mosque.

Diyanet Center mosque in Lanham, Maryland (USA)

A mosque is not an “Islamic church.” A mosque is not a “place of worship”

A mosque is the seat of Islamic government.

A mosque is more aptly likened to an embassy or military outpost…and there are currently over 3100 of them in America today.