over the course of history, man has used a GREAT variety of places, houses, towers, and other structures in order to meditate, pray, inner-reflection, learning discipline, serve mankind…
here I present some temples from a wide variety of cultures, religions
please feel free to add yours. and what your notion of a temple is:
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an mayan/incan temple
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Roman temples
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islamic temple
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chinese temple
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hinduist temple
and for me the temple of modern times; fully equipped to serve ALL the goals of a temple in a compact way:
i don't see why you all are so surprised/angered or whatever about my usage of 'islamic temple'. There are many 'scholars' who translate 'bait' in the qur'an as 'temple' when referring to the Ka'aba.
Secondly, a temple is nothing more than a 'place of worship' so what y'all whining about?
Should we start calling Allah (SWT) "bhagwaan" ? Afterall, bhagwaan also means God, no? As for those so called "scholars", I am sure they are confused as well :-)
When we've been told the words that we should be using for our place of worship, why would you use other words? I don't see a very good reason. Some people might argue my statement saying "why not" but again, it's all about giving respect. Masjid is a paak place for Muslims, it should be called a Masjid or a Mosque.
haha a lot of scientists and "scholars" have been atheists. they dont believe in worship or god to begin with. maybe our friend here is also atheist. look at the what he considers a temple - a laboratory :p
Shikra & PCG: perhaps not only some hindus, but also muslims will agree that Bhagwaan is the same as Allah, just like God and Jahweh and the Oneness (used by Plato). But beside that, temple is merely the translation of the Arabic word 'Masjid' into English, so what's wrong with that? We also call Prophets prophets when we translate Nabi/Rasool into english, right?
Sohail A: where did the word mosque come from? it's not mentioned in the Qur'an? only masjid is. Anyway, why would calling that space temple be disrespectful to it?
When we've been told the words that we should be using for our place of worship, why would you use other words? <<<<
The reason I'm using it, it firstly to show that basically the different temples as i've shown have served the same function over and over again. Secondly, i'm using the english language, and according to me, a masjid wud be a temple in english.
CdP: Let me remind you that the greatest of scientists all over history have been believers: Newton, Einstein, Hawking all believe(d) in God.
Anyway, if we define temple as 'place of worship', i don't see why a lab would NOT comply to that definition. Care to explain what is so different in a lab? If I'm doing an experiment, im doing it to gain knowledge about the beautiful world Allah has made. And by investigating it, I get more and more respect for this world. Isn't that a form of worship for Allah?
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*Originally posted by NeSCio: *
Shikra & PCG: perhaps not only some hindus, but also muslims will agree that Bhagwaan is the same as Allah, just like God and Jahweh and the Oneness (used by Plato). But beside that, temple is merely the translation of the Arabic word 'Masjid' into English, so what's wrong with that? We also call Prophets prophets when we translate Nabi/Rasool into english, right?
Sohail A: where did the word mosque come from? it's not mentioned in the Qur'an? only masjid is. Anyway, why would calling that space temple be disrespectful to it?
When we've been told the words that we should be using for our place of worship, why would you use other words? <<<<
The reason I'm using it, it firstly to show that basically the different temples as i've shown have served the same function over and over again. Secondly, i'm using the english language, and according to me, a masjid wud be a temple in english.
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That's why I said to use the word Masjid or the English term Mosque. Temple is mostly use for indian mandir or buddhist temples etc. I use masjid in English when talking to Muslims but when talking to Americans or non muslims, I use the word Mosque.
Why would it be disrespectful? I never said that it'll be disrespectful, all I said was that more respect is shown when you use the word Masjid for "Islamic Temple". Again, when the proper word is told to us, why not use it?