Musallā

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al-Musallā , Arabic المصلى, DMG al-muṣallā is from the verb sallā  /صلى / ṣallā  / 'pray' derived and originally referred to in Islam as an open place of prayer, a prayer place outside the mosque .

Provisional musallā with carpets and a sunroof in Thebes West (Egypt)

al-Muṣallā in the Koran and in prophetic practice

In this sense the word appears once in the Koran .

"Make a place of prayer out of the (holy) place of Abraham!"

- Koran, translation by Rudi Paret : Sura 2, verse 125

After Muhammad's arrival in Medina , there was initially no mosque in the city. The Muslim community gathered for common prayer first in an open square southeast of the city, which was known as "musallā der Banū Salima" - the place of prayer (in the area) of the B. Salima tribe.

In the time of Muhammad it was a large, open space between the B. Qainuqāʿ market and the market of Medina. The Prophet himself is said to have described this area as follows: “The Messenger of God went out to the Musallā and said: This is the place where we (God) ask for rain. This is our muṣallā for our sacrificial animals and where we break the fast . None of it may be restricted or taken away. ”Accordingly, sacrificial animals were slaughtered on the Musallā on this feast day. The prayer when it rains (ṣalāt al-istisqāʾ), which is classified as Sunna in the Islamic prayer ritual, was therefore also performed at this place. With the Hanafis and Hanbalites , these prayers are Sunna , according to traditional prophetic practice . The Malikites rate it as a recommended action. al-Shafidi states in his legal work that only the residents of Mecca offered the prayers in the mosques on the aforementioned holidays. According to Islamic tradition , the Muṣallā was also considered a place of execution; in the time of the Prophet an adulterer was stoned to death on the Muṣallā of Medina.

al-Musallā in History and Jurisprudence

In legal doctrine it remained - despite traditional prophetic practice - controversial whether large community events in the mosque or on the large "free space" as-sahra '  /الصحراء / aṣ-ṣaḥrāʾ  / 'steppe; also: desert 'may take place. Such a Muallā, which is controversial in legal literature, existed in Córdoba , between the main mosque and the Guadalquivir .

The Musallā gradually became part of the cityscape of the major centers of the Islamic world, which was only used on the major holidays mentioned above and was partially separated from the secular world by walls. In the 10th century, under Al-Mu'izz ibn Badis al-Ziri, the Muṣallā was built near Kairouan , and around 990 the Fatimid caliph al-ʿAzīz had the Musallā outside the city wall of Cairo renewed by his predecessor and a place for the pulpit and prayer niche Callers to prayer and erect for the Islamic dignitaries.

There are still large open prayer areas or even gardens in Iran , for example in Shiraz or Tehran . There was also a famous Muṣallā in Konya . In Bosnia , several musallā for performing prayer were still in use until recently.

Provisional musallā are not uncommon in Arab countries today; an area covered with mats and carpets with sun protection serves as a musallā (see picture).

Musallā also refers to a stone block on which Muslims lay their dead before burial.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Brill, suffering. Vol. 7, p. 658; al-mausūʿa al-fiqhiyya. Kuwait 1998. Vol. 38, p. 29
  2. ^ W. Montgomery Watt: Muhammad at Medina, p. 308
  3. ↑ Michael Lecker: On the markets of Medina (Yathrib) in pre-islamic and early islamic times . In: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam. 8: 141-142 (1986)
  4. ↑ Eugen Wednesday: On the genesis of Islamic prayer and cult , p. 97
  5. ↑ al-mausūʿa al-fiqhiyya . 1st edition. Kuwait 1998. Vol. 38. pp. 29-30
  6. ^ The Encyclopaedia of Islam . New Edition. Brill, suffering. Vol. 7, p. 658
  7. ↑ Saheeh al-Bukhari, Book 86, Chapter 25