In child-friendly move, mosque in Kerala builds football turf on terrace
KOZHIKODE: In a bid to make the Masjidul Rehma in Kannur district child-friendly, the mosque authorities have set up an artificial football turf on its terrace. The mini turf has come up on the third floor, with the 20-year-old mosque located at Panur being renovated earlier this month. “Our concept is to make the mosque child-friendly and arrange facilities for the overall development of the children who come here for prayers and studies,” said Nisthar Kizhuparamba, the khateeb of the masjid.
He said a tuition centre and an institute for differently-abled children are functioning under the Karunya Charitable Trust at the mosque. “We also have over 150 children studying in the madrassa attached to the mosque,” Nisthar said. He said the idea of the football turf came up as the mosque had an open terrace. “We thought of utilising the space creatively,” he added. There are around 250 kids at the Yes Academy for the differently-abled, besides 30 staff. The inmates are given counselling, speech and physiotherapy at the academy.
But not all are happy with the setting up of a football turf at the mosque. Those who object to the decision say the turf will spoil the sanctity of the mosque. “A mosque is a place where people pray to Allah. The setting up of a football turf inside the mosque amounts to sabotaging and damaging Islam,” said Sunni preacher Perode Abdul Rehman Saqafi.
Saqafi said in a speech that the Jama’at-e-Islami objects to many Sunni practices of remembering Allah inside the mosques but have no qualm in converting places of worship into play fields. Such practices will send a wrong signal to the young minds that mosques are places for kidding around, he said. Sunnis say that there is a danger of gullible people following this practice. They wanted to know whether other recreational activities also can be introduced at the mosque to attract children.