Malaysia is a country blessed with some of the world’s most beautiful and well-maintained mosques. We’ll go gaga in astonishment when we visit the Crystal Mosque in Terengganu or the architectural excellence of the Federal Territory Mosque.

According to a published Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) paper, we have approximately 5,000 mosques across our country. This number is not even inclusive of the surau which we have in Malaysia.

I feel a sense of comfort every time I step foot into my house of worship. I just wish that this magnificent house will extend its altruism to immortalise its magnificence.

It pains me to see our community hero, Syed Azmi Alhabshi, pleading towards the guardians of Masjid Negara to shelter the homeless. We shouldn’t even need to plead to help the homeless, instead it should be a default process of assistance. Alhamdulillah (Praise to Allah), the response from the mosque was positive, but our duty as peace-loving Muslims is not over.

Let’s transform all mosques across Malaysia as multi-functional community centres which promote the true beauty of Islam. Imagine what 5,000 mosques in Malaysia can do for Malaysians. Imagine the compassion which it will generate nationwide. Imagine how beautiful Islam will be seen in the eyes of the world. Let’s make this imagination a reality!

Mosques are meant to live, channeling awareness in a system that seeks to better lives. The prescriptions of Islam were never just religious. While we progress as a community, we must not forget to revisit our priorities. The tragedy of withering mosques has much to do with our predicament as an ummah (community).

Mosques were, foremost, what painted the portrait of any community. Travellers were invited to rest within the lively vicinities, barring all prejudice or discrimination. There are many instances where observation of life in Masjid An-Nabawi and other great mosques inspired them to profess faith in Islam.

Masjid An-Nabawi - one of Islam’s greatest mosques - was once an education centre, a court and a place for the poor to seek refuge. The Medina mosque once hosted the Christian community of Nagran under Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) rule. Non-Muslims could pray and rest there, thus symbolising its community status.

Mosques thrive on diversity

The house of god was not a palace; it was not about ornate ceilings and luxurious domes. It was never a reserve for the wealthy who seek to purchase heaven. Muslims, non-Muslims and people across the spectrum were all welcomed. Prophet Muhammad’s mosque had to be enlarged, which the Prophet did following the conquest of Khaybar in the seventh year after the Hijrah to accommodate people from all backgrounds.

As a general rule, certain spaces thrive on diversity -and a mosque is such.

A mosque is not where a pin drops leaving echoes from corner to corner. A mosque is rather where dialogues happen, knowledge is sought, communities are stitched and love is shared. It is quite beyond imagination for us. Imagine going to the mosque with your buddies to chill, but that was the way of the Prophet - and a loss of that, is a loss for us.

The Prophet’s mosque, from the very first day, served as a real community centre which quickly evolved into a multi-functional complex. It was meant not only for performing prayers at formally appointed times, but also for many other religious, social, political and administrative functions.

The main roles performed by the mosque were as a centre for congregational worship practices, a learning centre, the seat of the Prophet’s government, a welfare and charity centre, a detention and rehabilitation centre, a place for medical treatment and nursing, and a place for some leisure activities.

The impact of the mosque complex on the development of Medina was such that the core of the city eventually grew to be almost ring-shaped, centering around the complex. This just shows how central mosques were back then to the community, regardless of race and religion.

Mosques were a place for citizens to voice concerns. With a strong enough telescope, aliens certain lightyears apart might currently be observing the greatest events of the ummah - and far too many will be happening in mosques.

The public representatives had a prerogative to be present in mosques. People saw them as equal part slaves of God, and in no part beyond approach. That is the egalitarian spirit which we have lost.

Mosques served as headquarters and important offices of the state. We have all heard of the story of the mosque in France which opened its doors to the Jews who faced persecution under the tyrannical Nazi rule. If the imams in Europe can take in the Jews, why can’t we open our doors to the ummah ?

Mosques were critical for the welfare system. Welfare is the idea that we care for each other; it remains merely a concept when the homeless remain in winter and fails to disturb us.

Historically, mosques have been used as a place for dispersal of money from the Baitulmal, which is the state-controlled fund for helping the vulnerable. Mosques also served as a refuge for travellers and the needy. Mosques can serve as centres for healthcare, awareness, workshops, activities and so on.

Best parts of mosque-based learning

Yet the irreplaceable ingenuity of a mosque lies in the fact that it can bind a community like no other institution. It was the Prophet’s mosque that served as the common property which united migrants from Makkah and residents from Medina in one of the greatest displays of integration.

The first school connected to a mosque was set up at Medina in 653, and by 900 nearly every mosque had an elementary school for the education of both boys and girls.

Large mosques offered instruction in Arabic grammar and poetry, logic, algebra, biology, history, law, and theology. Although advanced teaching often took place in madrassas, hospitals, observatories, and the homes of scholars, in Spain, teaching took place mostly in the mosques - starting with the Cordoba mosque in the eighth century.

Basra in Iraq, Granada, Seville, Tunisia, Al-Azhar, Morocco. Name any successful phase of the Islamic civilisation; mosques would appear to have been an integral part. Baghdad became a global seat of knowledge and mosques held lessons in pharmacology, engineering, astronomy and others. Students came from every corner of the world to learn.

The best part about a mosque-based learning is that there is no hierarchy to be employed, nor exorbitant fees to be charged. Belief is a strong motivator and at proximity of a supreme force, people have an uncanny ability to be the best of what they can become.

Conversation on what we must do will carry on, but as we craft our priorities it is necessary that we think about the institutions they stand on. Some institutions stand as essentials nodes in a network of vast possibilities. They stand as the force that pumps life. Remove them, and the pieces simply do not fit.

So, let’s restore the magnificence of our houses of worship - the magnificence which can be shared with everyone.

SYED SADDIQ SYED ABDUL RAHMAN is a part-time lecturer at Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) Malaysia and is Asia’s best debater, winning the United Asia Debate Championship in May 2015.