THE MOSQUE — House of the God-fearing

worship, has come to be built to serve other related purposes, such as housing the madrasa, library, lecture hall, guest house and dispensary etc. According to a hadith the Prophet advised the building of mosques in a simple style, so that there should be no dissipation or dilution of the true religious and spiritual atmosphere. Implicit in the words Allahu-Akbar (God is great), is the idea that the person uttering them is not great. All mosques (with the exception of three) are of equal religious standing, whether large or small, plainly conceived or architecturally magnificent. The three mosques, which have a greater degree of sanctity because of their historical and religious associations, are the Masjid-e-Haram in Mecca, Prophet’s mosque in Medina and the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. o Success and Failure To successfully perform any action, one needs to have prior knowledge. Without proper insight one often becomes a failure and blames circumstances and other individuals for the disastrous outcome. Gratefulness From our birth onwards, all factors of life are made available to us in a perfectly balanced manner. It is heedlessness to fail to ponder over and appreciate God’s greatness.