[nickayary]

Why do mosque committees turn homeless Muslims away who don't have any place to sleep and send them to churches in order to get a sleeping place?

Is this permissible in Islam? Why is it for so many committees impossible to let a homeless brother stay for the night, only to sleep and get out in the morning, with no other criminal or damaging activities taking place?

[Caunnysup]

It has to do with a lack of trust. Many Muslims, let alone mosque committees, do not trust the fellow Muslim enough to let him stay in the masjid overnight.

[T1ivuQGS]

believe me the comittees dont care about the masajid.

they only care about the expensive, useless things that they have placed inside the masajid in order to make them resemble the palaces of firoun and namrood.

if the masajid were just four walls, a roof and a carpet then they wouldnt kick as much a fuss about letting homeless people stay there at night.

we have more love for tacky looking wall clocks that have been made in china than our own muslim brothers and sisters.

[Intiltern]

Why do mosque committees turn homeless Muslims away who don't have any place to sleep and send them to churches in order to get a sleeping place?

Is this permissible in Islam? Why is it for so many committees impossible to let a homeless brother stay for the night, only to sleep and get out in the morning, with no other criminal or damaging activities taking place?

Brother where did this happen

[T1ivuQGS]

Brother where did this happen

i saw something similar happen at saddam hussain mosque in birmingham. the committee looked like ravaging dogs. they were shouting and going red in the face at some poor guy.

[nickayary]

Brother where did this happen

It happens everywhere and too often. Makes me very angry. It happened today in a tablighi masjid about whom I thought they would let him only sleep for the night. Coming with the lame excuse that the "markaz only lets jamat people sleep and nobody else."

This is the state we are in.

[wrefrinny]

It happens everywhere and too often. Makes me very angry. It happened today in a tablighi masjid about whom I thought they would let him only sleep for the night. Coming with the lame excuse that the "markaz only lets jamat people sleep and nobody else."

This is the state we are in.

Things are not so black and white, brother. For example I've heard a few Ulamaa and Muftiyyoon say that a Masjid should never be closed to people because it's a place of Allah's ibaadah, which is the one of the many purposes of Da'wah and Tabligh - to populate Masajid. At the same time, I've had first hand experience in my locality of many people who've stayed in the Masjid, but used and abused the waqf. Sleeping there but not making salah etc, even to the extent of stealing books and breaking into sadaqah boxes. This happened many times. And my Masjid is not even fancy or expensive. It's actually far from it. After a history of all that, brothers who took part in the Masjid's administrative affairs decided to allow only jama'aat to make itikaaf or a person who has been approved to stay there by mashura.


So on one hand you have what is matlub and maqsud of every Masjid and on the other hand, you have Masjids that deal with different situations from the people in its locality.


There are shades of grey...

[patrycjakolekk]

A similar incident happened at my own masjid... may Allah enable us to help our muslim brothers and sisters, ameen

[Intiltern]

i saw something similar happen at saddam hussain mosque in birmingham. the committee looked like ravaging dogs. they were shouting and going red in the face at some poor guy.

Ok, I didn't expect that masjid to be like that, they look like good brothers to me (i don't go there but know if them)

[yqpY4iw6]

Why do mosque committees turn homeless Muslims away who don't have any place to sleep and send them to churches in order to get a sleeping place?

Is this permissible in Islam? Why is it for so many committees impossible to let a homeless brother stay for the night, only to sleep and get out in the morning, with no other criminal or damaging activities taking place?

I have seen many so-called "homeless" muslims abusing the mosque. They come from the streets and once you let them in, many of them steal from the sadaqah boxes to support their drug habits. We use caution when dealing with people from the streets, even if they are muslim. We are tired of being taken advantage of. We don't like being bitten more than once.

[yqpY4iw6]

A similar incident happened at my own masjid... may Allah enable us to help our muslim brothers and sisters, ameen

Help those who are sincere, not those whose intention is to steal from the sadaqah boxes.

[patrycjakolekk]

Help those who are sincere, not those whose intention is to steal from the sadaqah boxes.

Since they are Muslim and seem to be in a pitiful state, we should have a good opinion of them and let them stay in our masajid... the masajid that we pay for through our own donations. And if they rob from us, we leave their affairs to Allah and if they have a drug habit, we pray that they are rehabilitated and enter jannah like we would pray for our own blood brother... never would I like to see my brother sleep on the streets, no matter what his personal vices. May Allah makes us all love each other. and help one another and give us death with imaan, ameen

[T1ivuQGS]

when i was in jamaat in america we saw a lot of homeless people staying in the masajid. from what i can remember arab brothers seemed to be more tolerant to this. in fact, the arab brothers had a much more relaxed attitude towards the masjid compared to our sub-continent brothers who usually seem uptight and controlling when it comes to the masjid.

anyway when we were staying in houston, texas we met a brother called salah. salah was black. and he was from the ghetto. these two things would have been enough to put most people off him but salah stayed in the masjid as he had no where to go. he stayed with our jamaat and helped us a lot. he took us into the ghetto as he wanted us to talk to his friends and family as he was concerned for their akhirah.

now most people would have phoned the police if salah tried to stay in the masjid. he was black (no im not racist but many people are even though they say they are not, hence i am emphasising his race). he was from the ghetto. he was HUGE. he looked dangerous. but in the few days that we got to know him he turned out to be one of the most beautiful guys we met in america. and far from trying to freeload off the masjid, salah was trying hard to get a job. on the day we were about to leave salah wasnt around. we packed up and just as we were about to go we saw salah running to us with a massive smile on his face. he told us he went out looking for a job and he found one. he was overjoyed and started hugging us all. when he found out we were leaving he was crying.

anyway....what are we meant to do with people like salah? throw him out of the masjid and tell him to get help from the church? shall we start choosing we we allow to sleep in the masjid based on apearance and race? im sure there is a church who will be all too willing to open there doors and their bibles to people like salaah. muslims should feel disgusyed with ourselves for allowing money and other dunya things from preventing help for our people.

[patrycjakolekk]

when i was in jamaat in america we saw a lot of homeless people staying in the masajid. from what i can remember arab brothers seemed to be more tolerant to this. in fact, the arab brothers had a much more relaxed attitude towards the masjid compared to our sub-continent brothers who usually seem uptight and controlling when it comes to the masjid.

anyway when we were staying in houston, texas we met a brother called salah. salah was black. and he was from the ghetto. these two things would have been enough to put most people off him but salah stayed in the masjid as he had no where to go. he stayed with our jamaat and helped us a lot. he took us into the ghetto as he wanted us to talk to his friends and family as he was concerned for their akhirah.

now most people would have phoned the police if salah tried to stay in the masjid. he was black (no im not racist but many people are even though they say they are not, hence i am emphasising his race). he was from the ghetto. he was HUGE. he looked dangerous. but in the few days that we got to know him he turned out to be one of the most beautiful guys we met in america. and far from trying to freeload off the masjid, salah was trying hard to get a job. on the day we were about to leave salah wasnt around. we packed up and just as we were about to go we saw salah running to us with a massive smile on his face. he told us he went out looking for a job and he found one. he was overjoyed and started hugging us all. when he found out we were leaving he was crying.

anyway....what are we meant to do with people like salah? throw him out of the masjid and tell him to get help from the church? shall we start choosing we we allow to sleep in the masjid based on apearance and race? im sure there is a church who will be all too willing to open there doors and their bibles to people like salaah. muslims should feel disgusyed with ourselves for allowing money and other dunya things from preventing help for our people.

Exactly bro... I mean, our masaajid collect donations to help the poor but when the poor seek a place to stay, suddenly the doors are closed? Just in case the brothers try and rob from the masaajid? If we helped them enough in the first place, they wouldn't feel the need to rob from the House of Allah and as always, we should have a good opinion of them in the first place rather than think 'well, this guy is clearly gonna rob us'. May Allah aid the Muslims and give us all death with imaan, ameen

[voksveta]

Considering the need to both help the community as well as important safety concerns, maybe those of us who are members of the more well-established masajid could take raise the prospect of an official temporary shelter for those who need a place to stay. I'm talking about a few beds in a separate part of the building/complex just for that purpose.

[wrefrinny]

Considering the need to both help the community as well as important safety concerns, maybe those of us who are members of the more well-established masajid could take raise the prospect of an official temporary shelter for those who need a place to stay. I'm talking about a few beds in a separate part of the building/complex just for that purpose.

Yeah there needs to be more of that throughout the US. No Muslim should be turned down when in need, at the same time, the purpose for which Masajid are built have to be considered as well.


Turning a Muslim away from the Masjid to a Church is just insanity, though.

[Avaboormavoro]

for starting this topic, as it is a very real reality and happening everywhere. I have seen it happen with my own eyes on more than one occasion.

Here's a twist, don't know if anyone would agree... but I've found "Arab" run mosques to be more accommodating towards the needy than lets say "Desi" (Pakistani/India/Bangladesh) run mosques (I'm Pakistani). I used to go to an "Arab" run mosque for Jummah when I lived somewhere else, (I keep putting it in quotes because we know in the end it's Muslim but you know what I mean), it was Masha'Allah a huge, beautiful mosque, seemed like they Alhamdulillah had good finaicials, and they used to actually make announcements over and over before, during, and after Jummah khutba for anyone needy to come see them after salat and Insha'Allah they would help them. They even went into specifics such as "we will find a way to help with your mortgage, electric bills, phone bills, heating bill, groceries", etc, etc. And they didn't say this once, they repeatedly said this, they constantly said "please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you are in need, so far Alhamdulillah we have never turned anyone away". It was as if they were trying to make every single brother or sister who was in there and was in need but may have been shy about approaching someone.... to come up to them and tell them they needed help so they could help them. I was definitely pleasantly surprised to see that and then I noticed whenever I went to an Arab mosque the vibe of hospitality was definitely more alive than let's say a Pakistani mosque.

Currently I go to a Pakistani mosque near me and it's the same story, a few times Muslims have come who (at least to me) didn't even look like "bums" or "homeless" but they embarrassingly explained their situation after salat that they were out of a job for months etc, had kids to feed and what not, and Allah forgive us, almost no one got up to help. One brother went around and collected some money from everyone... people gave a dollar here and there and that was it, sent him on his way. Another brother was literally crying in tears asking for a place to stay, some sort of issue with immigration and him losing his home and his family being back in Egypt or something and him trying to find a way to get back home.. something like that, point being he didn't look like a "bum" who would rob the place overnight and seemed legitimate, but the answer of some of the "management" members sitting nearby was a very cold "we don't allow anyone to stay in the mosque overnight".

I even had this conversation with my Imam that why aren't we helping these brothers who are showing up? What are we there for then? A masjid is supposed to be for more than making salat 5 times a day. This masjid I'm speaking of Masha'Allah has good financials also and yet no system to even try to help needy Muslims... Subhan'Allah. I said to him can we imagine that during the time of the Prophet if someone showed up to his mosque and said he needed a place to stay, would the Prophet and the sahaba have told him "sorry we don't allow anyone to stay in the mosque overnight?"... far from it. They would have given them everything they had on them, a place to stay, food, and then some. May Allah help us our thinking is not anywhere near that these days even in most Masajid.

I know Imams don't have much of a say in how the masjid is ran and he understood where I was coming from and said that he would suggest it to 'management' to have some sort of a system to try and help any needy Muslims who may come by... but Subhan'Allah, no system has been setup yet that I know of (this conversation was a while ago).

In any case, sorry for the long post, I guess I just needed to get this out of my system and since I saw other brothers and sis's talking about I took the opportunity to do the same.

May Allah swt forgive me for anything I said wrong here, and may He give us the tawfeeq to watch out for our fellow Muslims as we watch for our blood brothers and sisters. Ameen.

[nickayary]

Things are not so black and white, brother. For example I've heard a few Ulamaa and Muftiyyoon say that a Masjid should never be closed to people because it's a place of Allah's ibaadah, which is the one of the many purposes of Da'wah and Tabligh - to populate Masajid. At the same time, I've had first hand experience in my locality of many people who've stayed in the Masjid, but used and abused the waqf. Sleeping there but not making salah etc, even to the extent of stealing books and breaking into sadaqah boxes. This happened many times. And my Masjid is not even fancy or expensive. It's actually far from it. After a history of all that, brothers who took part in the Masjid's administrative affairs decided to allow only jama'aat to make itikaaf or a person who has been approved to stay there by mashura.


So on one hand you have what is matlub and maqsud of every Masjid and on the other hand, you have Masjids that deal with different situations from the people in its locality.


There are shades of grey...

First of all, the waqf get abused in daytime too, so what are you going to do now? Close the masjid during daytime? Also, books are taken away during prayer times too. And what would a homeless person searching for money do with books of hadith and qur'an? This is no argument.

You are stating yourself that they don't pray so what are they going to do with Islamic books? Besides, these books are taken away during daytime too simply because people do not understand the rulings of waqf or it is not mentioned clearly that books are supposed to stay in the mosque.

About breaking down sadaqa boxes. You simply take the money outside before the night they sleep. SIMPLE.

I am not saying you are supposed to sleep everyone and making it a camping place. But brothers who even PRAYED salah with us are turned down!! And even if they do not pray, why not let brothers talk to them first about the importance of prayer? Why kick them out immediately? Also, most of the mosques have rooms NEAR the mosque, like classrooms. Even in such rooms they are not allowed to sleep, where nothing can happen and nothing can be stolen!

How is that possible? What kind of sick attitude can a Muslim have to tell him to go to the church or let him sleep on the streets in the cold?

Tell me HOW please.

[nickayary]

Perhaps some fatawa can be gathered in order to show these mosque committees that what they are doing is simply wrong. If some reputable Muftis can be contacted, asking the hukm about this issue, that would be good.

[Intiltern]

I think another issue is security at masjids; at my local masjid there have been a few personal belongings gone missing out of jackets etc from people who used to come in at random times. This is probably more down to the type of area the masjid is in rather than the committee