from the efficacy of the prayer; nor does a building when constructed for the express purpose of prayer stand in need of consecration. All that is required is that the builder should declare his intention to have that building used as a place of prayer.
But, in spite of what has been stated above, the mosque plays a more important part in Islām than does any other house of worship in any other religion. Where the Holy Qur’ān speaks of the Muslim’s duty to defend and protect all houses of worship, to whatever religion they may belong, it speaks of the mosque last of all, but it mentions its distinctive characteristic, namely that the name of God is remembered there most of all: “And if Allāh did not repel some people by others, cloisters, and churches, and synagogues, and mosques in which Allāh’s name is much remembered, would have been pulled down” (22:40). The concluding words of the verse — mosques in which Allāh’s name is much remembered — are significant. All religious buildings are resorted to generally once a week, but the mosque is visited five times a day for the remembrance of God’s name. In fact, if any house on earth can be called God’s house, on account of its association with the Divine name, that house is the mosque which pre-eminently deserves the name, all other religious houses seem neglected in comparison with it. The whole atmosphere of the mosque is charged with the electricity of the Divine name; there is the call to prayer five times a day, which rends the air with cries of the greatness and unity of God—Allāhu Akbar, Allāhu Akbar and lā ilāha ill-Allāh; there is the individual service, carried on in silence, but with God’s name on the lips of every individual worshipper; there is the public service in which the Imām recites aloud portions of the Holy Qur’ān, that tell of Divine grandeur and glory, with the refrain of Allāhu Akbar repeated at every change of movement; and when the prayer is finished, there is again a chorus of voices speaking of Divine greatness, making the mosque echo and re-echo with the remembrance of God. It is true God does not dwell in the mosque, but surely one feels His presence there. It will thus be seen that the mosque is the centre of Muslim religious life. It is not a place to which a man may resort once a week to be inspired with a spiritual idea,