SULTAN HAJI AHMAD SHAH MOSQUE

“The mosques of God shall be visited and maintained by such as believe in God and the Last Day, establish regular prayers, and practice regular charity, and fear none (at all) except God. It is they who are expected to be on true guidance”.

[At-Taubah: 18]

Islam is a God-centred worldview, therefore, to remember God, to praise and glorify Him; and to worship Him regularly, forms the core of the Muslim life individually and collectively. A Muslim begins and ends his/her day by offering prayers and by thanking Almighty Allah, acknowledging His Oneness and Uniqueness, His Majesty and His Kindness, Love and His justice. He/she beseeches Him for His Mercy and Forgiveness, and commits himself/herself to endeavour to follow the straight path and to avoid doing wrong. The Muslim community does the same in congregation. Therefore, the mosque or Masjid as it is called in Arabic, being a place for prostration to the Lord is the most important core of the Muslim living. In reality, for the Muslim, the entire world is a Masjid as there is no place where God is not present. The Kaaba in Makkah, towards which a Muslim faces while praying and to which all mosques also face, symbolizes the unity of the Islamic faith united round the first House of God built to worship One Supreme God, and signifies the centrality and direction of all Muslims’ devotion. It forms the Qibla or direction to which Muslims must turn their faces while praying wherever they may happen to be.

 All Muslim cities and towns and Muslim institutions have Masjids located at their centre. All Muslim Universities, throughout history, have had mosques at the centre so that the entire University community offer their prayers together and commit themselves in learning, teaching and other activities to God. Therefore, the IIUM Mosque or Masjid Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, as it is known, forms the locus or the spiritual core of the IIUM community. Five times a day, the University community, officers, academics, students, administrative staff and workers flock to the mosque to offer their prayers, and to refresh their Ìmān and to open heir hearts to the Kind and Merciful Lord and ask for His Mercy.