Mosques are holy places. It must used to save lifes. Abandon women with young children who does not have shelter must be given a chance to use it.


Mosques should be welcoming for all, says PM
By SHAHANAAZ HABIB
KUALA LUMPUR: Mosques should be places where people, including the young, love to spend time, said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The Prime Minister said mosques should be clean, comfortable and pleasing to the eye.
"It should not be just a place to pray. People should want to go there because it gives them a sense of calmness and peace of mind," he said Tuesday at a conference for imams at the Federal Territory Mosque.
He said imams too should be people whom the public respected and looked up to and not feared.
He suggested that the state religious departments conduct counselling courses for the officers of mosques and the imams, in particular.
"I want them to use their positions well and be the ones that the young people come to seek advice from when they are faced with problems, be it personal or otherwise," he said.
He pointed out that if the imams were very "harsh" in their approach and always emphasised punishment, then people, especially the young, might be turned off.
"Why not start from a point of love and compassion and try and understand their problems and get to the bottom of why they are feeling in such a way? Show love and tell them that Allah loves them and accepts repentance. Don't start with anger," he added.
Abdullah also stressed that sermons should be non-political.
He noted that some of the imams had preferred to cast aside the sermons that were prepared by the state religious departments in favour of their own.
"The prepared sermons actually are based on what is going on in society and the problems; so it should not be cast aside unless there is a more suitable and cogent sermon to address the specific needs or problems in a particular area," he said.
He said at times when sermons deviated from the state-prepared line, it caused problems and brought out anger among people especially when it is related directly to politics.
"We want the Muslims, regardless of their political ideology - be it Umno, PAS, or PKR - to come to the mosques and be respectful to one another.
"We do not want a situation where people think this is 'their mosque' and that is 'our mosque'. We want people to feel comfortable in all mosques," he said.