استغفر الله

It really gets under my skin when the announcements guy asks for money after jum'a. It reminds me how money is like a god in America. The only one worshipped by some and an idol for others. It gets under my skin when money gets brought up in the masjid because it means at least one of two things: 1.) the community isn't large enough (due division), strong enough or rich enough to take care of themselves; or 2.) the community isn't willing to pay for what it says it wants. (un)Fortunately(?) the leadership of one of the three local masajid gets ahead of themselves some times. Like in Ramadan, when the masjid was full for taraweed prayers, the mini-khutbahs became about donating to the masjid for an expansion project. True, it wouldn't hurt to have some more space. In the summer months the jamat swells, sometimes even spilling out into the parking lot. It just bothered me that taraweed prayers (which filled the hall with little to no overflow) became the forum to stress the importance of donating to this masjid. I wondered if the other masjitain in town were in similar states. alhamdulillah, double digits for fajr! but single digits for dhuhr and asr; 20 for maghrib and the community iftar. Only isha and taraweed filled the masjid. I met so many muslims I'd never seen before Ramadan and many I haven't seen since. And these are the people who are being asked to pay the bills and support the expansion project; the every day muslims are tapped out or giving all they can. The leadership of the masjid (the committee, the directors) were sure it was necessary to get more space or get a new building.

There are three masajid in my town, barely enough muslims fill them on fridays, and three plans for expansion or a new building (sometimes both). Why not just one for the WHOLE community, big enough for everything from taraweed to eid?