في عجالة: هذا ليس صحيحاً، وهو موضوع قديم
اضعط هنــا

Fatwa # 14031 from Egypt Date: Saturday, March 11th 2006


Question
I received below email from a friend. Would like to know whether he is correct ?

Assalamu Alaikum, Its been observed that most of us write "MOSQUE" for "Masjid" and even calling it as Mosque in daily routine, what elders and teachers say that the word "MOSQUE" means the house of mosquitoes not Masjid. So better be careful next time instead of writing mosque, u can write MASJID it doesn't matter.. Most we have seen the spelling of MAKKAH as MECCA. The word MECCA means "Sharab Khaana"(bar or pub). So lets all of us be careful of writing MECCA. Many people whose name start with Muhammed, write in a short form as "Mohd". This "Mohd" means "A dog which has a big mouth". Guys please forward this message to as many muslims as possible.


Answer
The advise to call a Mosque a Musjid, spell Makkah instead of Mecca and spell Muhammad in full is correct.

However, the reasoning behind mosque being mosquito, Mecca being a pub and Mohd being a dog is not correct.

and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best

Mufti Ebrahim Desai

واضغط هنــا أيضاً

mosque - 1717, from Middle French. mosquée, from Italian. moschea, from Spanish. mezquita, ultimately from Arabic. masjid "temple, place of worship," from sajada "he worshipped." In M.E. as moseak, moseache.

Thus the Spanish word "mezquita" is genuinely related to other similar words "moseak, moseache" referring to the act of sojood from which the Arabic word masjedi is derived.

Moreover the word "mosquito" in Spanish is "el mosquito". Had the name "mosquito" been used to refer to a mosque, we would not have two distinct words "mosquito" and "mosque". In other words, "mosque" and "mosquito" were never used interchangeably to refer to the masjid.

السلام،،،

يتبيّن من خلال الشرح الوافي للكلمات المشكّك فيها أسفله بأنّ الادعاء باطل.
ملحوظة: لم أعثر على كلمة mohd

mosque
–noun
a Muslim temple or place of public worship.
________________________________________
[Origin: 1600–10; earlier mosquee < MF < It moschea ≪ Ar masjid, deriv. of sajada to worship, lit., prostrate oneself; the -ee seems to have been taken as dim. suffix and dropped ]

mosque
n. A Muslim house of worship.

[French mosquée, from Old French mousquaie, from Old Italian moschea, from moscheta, from Old Spanish mezquita, from Arabic masjid; see masjid.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

mosque
c.1400, moseak, probably from M.Fr. mosquée, from It. moschea, from Sp. mesquita (modern mezquita), from Arabic masjid "temple, place of worship," from sajada "he worshipped" + prefix ma- denoting "place." In M.E. as muskey, moseache, etc.

Mecca
1823, from Arabic Makkah, sacred city of Islam, birthplace of Muhammad, which every Muslim must visit at least once. Fig. sense of "any place one holds supremely sacred" (usually with lower-case m-) is from 1850.


Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

mecca

noun
1. joint capital (with Riyadh) of Saudi Arabia; located in western Saudi Arabia; as the birthplace of Muhammad it is the holiest city of Islam
2. a place that attracts many visitors; "New York is a mecca for young artists"

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

Ref: www.dictionary.com

[align=justify]الأخوان الكريمان د. أحمد الليثي وأوبيري صابر
أشكر لكما ما أفدتما به .
وممتن لكما ما تجشمتما لإفادتي .

بورك نبض روحيكما .


محمود النجار[/align]

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