Islamic Center Proposal - Essay Example

Sur Islamic Center Proposal Islam is one of the religions that is professed by Billions of people around the world instilling good principles and attributes among the Muslim faithful. It is a great religion to profess since it instills discipline and follows the rule of law as commanded in the Quran. It is also important to highlight that Islam is a peaceful religion that encourages peace and harmony over the land and not war. However, people cannot be blamed for fear of the Islamic religion especially in America after the Islamic religion is falsely blamed for radicalizing people and raising terrorists all over the World. These assertions are false and truly unfair to the religion since the true followers rebuke and are strongly against such acts that plague the society. The people that orchestrate these acts are uninformed and misled people that believe that they are doing the work of God while they are doing exactly the opposite. It is therefore important to spread the teachings and information of the religion to other places all over the world to ensure that people associate the Islamic religion with the principles and teachings that they have instead of drawing from the false information that is asserted by the radical groups looking to destabilize the world. Thesis Statement: An Islamic Center will help in spreading and sensitizing the people on the path of prayer for the people and bring harmony and good things to the people in the city Answer to Question one The Twin Cities is one of the major urban areas in America and is home to many people that have come from different parts of the world. America is accommodating and therefore the number of Muslims in the region are many thereby a Muslim Center is necessary. This is to ensure that the children and also the Muslims have a place for prayer and there is proper development of the children in the proper Islamic teachings. This will ensure that the number of people that have access to the Mosque and the Islamic teachings has increased significantly in the State. A Muslim Center is a place of worship and development and therefore the Center will be accessible to all people that are willing to learn and develop as well as for prayers. Islamic religion does not shut the doors to the Mosque or the praying hall since the people can pray at any time during the day or night. It will therefore be open to all people and the people around where the mosque is located will be encouraged to go to the mosque and engage with others in the Center. This will create an environment where people will have grown a culture where they know each other and therefore the fear of people for being Muslim will be eradicated. The Center will be built with an aim of developing different talents and enhancing community interactions and engagements with different people in the society to enhance community development and awareness. The main reason why the center should be open for all is mainly to enhance transparency and ensure that people can identify with the center. It is important to ensure that the Muslims do not seclude themselves thereby raising suspicion of their teachings and principles among the Muslim community. It is therefore important for the center to be open to all and create a community where all people can relate with each other freely regardless of their religious affiliation or beliefs. Muslim is a religion that encourages love and harmony among different people and religions and there is no reason why Muslims need to be seen differently from their other religious counterparts. Answer to Question Two The Muslim Center will be built in Downtown Saint Paul and target the high number of people that are in the city especially Muslims. It will be located close to St Louis Park where there are different people visiting the mosque and therefore can be able to see the Mosque. The Muslim Center will stand out and will occupy a larger area than the mosques in the City as it looks to get as many people as possible to the Center and attract the attention of other religions. One of the features will be the construction of a dome that will stand out and ensure that the people can see the Mosque from afar and therefore get drawn to the Center. The Mosque will be the major attraction and therefore the size will have to be large enough to accommodate enough numbers of people. Construction of the prayer room will also be important and it will be critical to ensure that the area matches the number of people in a given session and given that there are other mosques in the region it will be fairly small. The prayer room will be adjacent to the Mosque. There is a need to build a separate room where the women will be praying. According to Muslims women in some cases are not allowed to be in front of the women and rather than being uncomfortable at the back it is better that the Center builds another hall where they can be praying. Cleanliness is also important and therefore an area where the people can clean their feet before entering the Mosque will also be important and the people will have to ensure that they follow the rules as they get into the Mosque to ensure proper and convenient progress (Roof 73). In addition, there will be a need for the perimeter wall to also be properly shaped at the top to ensure that the people can be able to identify the Center as a Muslim Center from far. The writings on the entrance to the Center are also important and there will be writings reiterating that the center stands for peace and prayer. It is important to ensure that the center stands out since there is a need for the different Muslims close to the region and also the different people that may wish to come in for prayer or to participate in the development programs can be able to identify the area. A Muslim center also needs to have supportive programs that will ensure that the people can be able to go to the Mosque and get assistance when there are any problems or struggles. It is therefore important to have an office where disputes may be resolved and also for conducting different important meetings and programs for the Center. In addition, there will be a need for an empty space or compound where children that attend the Mosque for different teachings can play and also for conducting meetings with people who do not feel safe entering a Mosque. Therefore, there is a need to have ample space that will support all these features and ensure that the Muslims and other people in the community can be able to engage through the Center. Answer to Question Three According to the writers the three most important aspects in a mosque is the image text and form of the mosque since a mosque should hold its aesthetic value that can be delivered from the different features that the mosques have. This is true since like all the other religions there is a need for identity and the people ought to associate themselves with a specific model and the Mosques are made to be identifiable and unique among other buildings (Kahera 65). This makes them easily noticeable whole the users can be able to associate with. It is therefore important to ensure that these cultural values and aspects of the Mosque are maintained since they have been there since the beginning of the religion of Islam (Kahera 65). These aspects are also important in the different formation and construction of the Mosques since they ensure that the different religious aspects of the religion are observed. The traditions of Islam can only be effectively observed through ensuring that the Mosque has all the features that ensure that people are able to practice the religion. The importance of the Mosque to have a particular form and image cannot be understated and therefore the writers have conceptually highlighted its importance perfectly through the information given (Barnard 81). However, it is important to note that Islamic religion can be practiced at any place since the Muslims consider all areas Holy and can therefore pray regardless of whether they are in a mosque or not. It is important therefore to reiterate that although it is important for the Mosque to maintain its form this does not mean that it is the major and only characteristic in practicing the religion. Muslims believe in prayer and therefore they pray regularly and many times this does not necessarily have to happen in a Mosque. It is therefore not important to ensure that the Mosque is in a specific form, image or text but there has to be a house of prayer. Islam is a peaceful religion that looks to instill the best principles to the Muslims. The fear of the Islamic religion is drawn from the different generalization and identifying Islam as the source of the teachings that lead radicals to orchestrate inhuman acts all over the world (Kahera 69). The Islamic Center will aim to alleviate this and ensure that the people get a perspective and associate Islam as a religion that stands for the right things and proper morals and not on evil as the terrorist want people to believe in. Works Cited Barnard, I. "The American Mosque in Transition: Assimilation, Acculturation and Isolation." Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2009): n. pag. Web. . Kahera, A. I. "Deconstructing the American Mosque." Space, Gender and Aesthetics (2002): n. pag. Web. Roof, W. C. Contemporary American religion. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. Print. Read More