A House in Paradise
By Sheikh Hassan Aly, Imam & Religious Director, The Mecca Center

All praise is due to Allah, and Allah’s Peace and Blessings be upon His Final Messenger, his pure family, his noble Companions, and all those who follow them with righteousness until the Day of Judgment.

Dear beloved sisters and brothers,

We have been blessed, Alhamdulillah, to open the new Mecca Center in the first Friday of 2017. It was like watching a dream unfold into reality. We have already started to see the positive effects our new Masjid is having on our growing congregation and our neighbors. Our community now has big, beautiful prayer spaces to pray in and our children have full classrooms for their schooling and a gym for their activities.

Allah has a purpose and plan for everything. He wants each of us to run our race in line with His plan. In Surat Al-Mutaffifeen Allah said: {and for this let (all) those strive who want to strive} [83:26]. This is the kind of praiseworthy competition that is encouraged many times in the Quran and the Sunnah. Our beloved prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has given us this important advice when he said: “Make the most of five things before five (other things happen): your life before you die, your good health before you become sick; your free time before you become busy; your youth before you grow old; and your wealth before you become poor.” Saheeh by Al-Albaani.

My dear sisters and brothers, since the beginning of the Mecca center on 2004, the goal of our community was to have not just a Masjid or a place solely for worship, but a place for raising our children and youth, a place of hope and delivering the message of peace and justice to everyone – a holistic community center. Having Mecca in our area benefits not only Muslims, but the community at large. The Mecca Center will be a home where our neighbors are welcome, where our children will see that community service is not exclusive but inclusive of all our neighbors. Through our center we will strive to fulfill our duty as Muslims, and to communicate Islam’s true ideals of serving all of our community as in the hadith of our beloved prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be upon him): “The best of people are those that bring most benefit to the rest of mankind.” Saheeh by al-Albaani.

Building a Masjid and contributing toward the building is one of the greatest acts of worship before Allah. Participating with others in building these Masājid is the kind of cooperation in righteousness and piety that is prescribed in Islam. Ibn Majaah narrated from Jaabir ibn ‘Abd-Allah, that the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) said: “Whoever builds a Masjid for the sake of Allah like a sparrow’s nest or even smaller, Allah will build for him a house in Paradise.” A house in Paradise? Is there anything else we need?