Regulations And Enlightenment:Research On The Function Of The Contemporary Mosque In Cities

The Mosque has an extremely important and irreplaceable position in the Muslim life, as the core symbol mark and religious field, the Mosque is also the spiritual home for Muslims to seek for spirit consolation, shape of living modes and establishment of value systems. In addition to Muslims, a lot of people do not understand the Mosque and have misunderstand to it easily in the current Chinese society. In addition, some Muslims or Akhond in Mosque have different understanding about the function of the Mosque and the religion applied.Under the premise of abiding by the country law and practicing the tenet of loving the country and Islam, how to integrate the rules and enlightenment into the Islamic religion applied and daily life correctly for the Mosque,which is a problem of Chinese Islamic society to discuss and practice,also is a problem that our government focus on the religious management activities.For this reason, based on the Mosque in modern cities as the research object, according to the collecting datum from field investigations by author in Shuncheng and Nancheng Mosques of Kunming City. The text shows how the country law and religious regulations and autonomous rules to restrain the Mosque and Muslims' behavior harmoniously in the religious and social activities in the Mosque, and focuses on the function and the way of religious applied in mosques take part in socialist construction. This paper deems that the Mosque which practices the tenet of loving the country and Islam shapes the consciousness of Muslims'religious regulations, regulates individual actions, participates in social control and maintains social order through activities about preachment and practice Sharia Law correctly, achieve the enlightenment function of Muslim individuals and society. This paper deems that the Mosque which practices the tenet of loving the country and Islam shapes the consciousness of Muslims' religious regulations, regulates individual actions, participates in social control and maintains social order through activities about preachment and practice Sharia Law correctly, achieve the enlightenment function of Muslim individuals and society. It can help Muslims cognitive correctly and consciously abide by various social regulations including the country laws, religious regulations, social moral principles and folk norms, and build a bridge in contaction and communication between the Muslims and secular society. Under the circumstance of increasingly perilous situation with religious extremism, the emphasis of the rightness for preaching and practicing Sharia Law can draw a clear distinction with religious extremism, rectification the name of the Mosque and guide the right reasonable cognition to religion, as well as offering the right direction to Mosque's existence and development in new trend.Excepting the introduction and conclusion, the text is divided into five chapters.The first Chapter' The Islamic Law and the Architectural Structure of Mosque" is start with the architectural structures of Mosque initially, this paper expounds the symbolic meanings of the architectural structures of Mosque from the perspective of symbolic anthropology.This paper aims to illustrate that Mosque is the core symbol of Islam, and the architectural structure of Mosque strictly obeys the principled rules. Although the architectural style of Mosque are not the same style,the whole architectural style contains the Islamic belief kernel---"Tawheed",which is the the symbol of authority and holiness,reverence and obedience,as well as peace and unity. What's more, the internal structure of it is not only has its deep symbol meaning, but also highlights the response and obedience for Sharia Law.The Chapter Two "The Imam System and Akhond in Mosque" discuss concerning Akhond as the core people of Mosque. The fundamental function is achieved based on Imam system and Akhond in the Mosque's organizational structure. The Imam System and Akhond in Mosque provide institutional guarantees for Akhond to bring his role into active play and carry out religious affairs in Mosque.As a religious elite, Akhond is not only the backbone for the holy Imam preaching,but also the religious authority depended by the Muslims.They play an active leading role in guiding Muslims to correctly carry out religious applied, have the power to enlighten the members of society,and also an important force for the realizing the enlightenment function of Mosque.The Chapter Three "The Mosque as a Semi-autonomous Social Field" pay attention to the interrelation between Mosque and society. Mosque in cities is a special structure in the society, as well as the semi-autonomous social field,which is inextricably linked to social matrix.Mosque is a relatively independent small society in a complex society,but has an frequent interaction with society; inside Mosque, there is a relatively perfect set of internal rules and operational mechanisms,but they are always constrained and controlled by external forces.The semi-autonomy of Mosque provides operational logic for its daily operation, and also provides a good model for the diversity of the internal management of the country.The Chapter Four "The Mosque Taking Spread Islamic Law as a Sacred Duty" and the Chapter Five "The Mosque is the Important Way to Guide Muslims to Practice Sharia Law Correctly" discuss the importance of preaching and practicing Sharia Law correctly in Mosque. Preaching Sharia Law correctly and guiding Muslims to practice Sharia Law correctly,is not only the basic function of Mosque, but also the core mission,which is the important link that Mosque in cities play a positive role in guiding Muslims rightly,Through the preachment forms such as Khutbah and Al-Waz, Mosque adopts selective borrowing and reinterpretation to make a modernity interpretation of Sharia Law correctly,which guides Muslims to establish the correct belief and provides theoretical guidance for the correct practice of Sharia Law for Muslims.At the same time,in the correct preaching Sharia Law of Mosque,a group of legal consciousness shaped and cultivated in the society provides a logical meaning for the behavior of the Muslims, and also becomes the psychological structure of the Muslims community to seek for identification, affecting the formation of the "local" law culture to a certain extent.Mosque is an important religious field of Islam, and also the most important guide and demonstration position to guide the Muslims to practice Sharia Law correctly.This guidance and demonstration of the role not only are achieved through religious ceremony held in Mosque, but also are reflected in the social activities of Mosque.On the way to practice Sharia Law of Muslims correctly,Mosque is the leader, the pioneer and the defenders, and also provides an effective carrier and an important context for the Muslims identity.The Conclusion Section summarized all the main viewpoints of the text, and then made some counter-measure suggestions for the problems may be faced by the Mosques in development. As the legal religious organization and places of religious activities, the basic functions of Mosque are reflected in aspects of religion and society. In the religious activities in Mosque, guaranteeing the accuracy of the preachment and practice on Sharia Law is the fundament of Mosque legitimacy. To meet the requirements of Chinese Islamic Association, there are still some deficiencies for the urban Mosque to play its role effectively. Therefore, the connection and interaction between Mosque and society should be strengthened; the democratic management mechanism of Mosque should be improved and perfected by normalizing the daily operation; attention should be paid to train and promote the Akhond's individual comprehensive qualities; the correct form and content of preaching and practicing Sharia Law should be innovated to enhance the adaptability between religion and society; the social space for religious practice should be expanded positively to make greater contribution to society development by taking the natural advantage of Mosque in mobilizing, gathering and guiding Muslims.