Mosque Means Mosquito says a Modern Hadith

[Edip Yuksel]

Today, I came across a message at free-minds.org/forum. After posting
my response, I noticed that it has been circulating on the net. It is
one of the many examples of that we live in a world that many people
talk and walk around with their brains odometer close to zero miles.

Mosque Means Mosquito
September 18, 2009

RASUL HAMSA: an email:

"A special msg from Dr. Zakir Naik"

Don't say 'Mosque' Say always ' Masjid'
Because: Islamic organization has found that
mosque = mosquitoes

Don't write ' Mecca ' Write always correctly ' Makkah'
Because: Mecca = house of wines

Don't write ' Moh'd'. Write always completely as ' Muhammad'
Because: Moh'd = the dog with big mouth.

Forward it to as many Muslims as you can for Sawab.

Nothing bad will happen if you don't forward this but these points are
important and it is our duty to educate / make aware our brothers.


EDIP: I like all these suggestions, yet I find their reasoning
amusing. I always prefer Masjid to its distorted pronunciation by
European Christians. However, the cited reason is childish and false.
No wonder, none before this very "special message" thought of
confusing mosques with mosquitoes, .

Etymologically, the word Mosque has nothing to do with mosquito. Its
evolution from mosquito is as much as muslims evolved from mussels or
Salaam means Hey dude, give me a pound of Salami. I should add that I
really doubt that Zaki Naik is as naive as to provide such silly
arguments for this semi-reasonable suggestions (semi, since I find no
problem with the usage of Mecca). Perhaps this is a fabricated modern
hadith intended to take advantage of the popularity of Zaki.

I agree with the following information at: http://www.answers.com/mosque

"Etymology: The Arabic word مسجد (masjid) means a "place of worship"
and is a noun of place from the verb سجد (sájada) — derived from the
triliteral root س ج د s-j-d, meaning "to bow" or "to kneel" — in
reference to the prostration performed during Islamic prayers (see
sujud). Either the word masjid itself or at least the verb from which
it is derived was borrowed from Aramaic. The word m-s-g-d is attested
in Aramaic as early as the 5th century BCE, and the same word is later
found in Nabataean inscriptions with the meaning "place of worship";
apparently, this Aramaic word originally meant "stele" or "sacred
pillar".[1] The same s-j-d root can also be found in Hebrew: ס-ג-ד,
meaning "to worship".

The modern-day English word "mosque", like its equivalents in many
other European languages, derives from masjid via Spanish mezquita.[1]
The pre-cursors of the word "mosque" in English appeared during the
15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. "Moseak", "muskey", "moschy", and
"mos'keh" were just some of the variations that came into use until it
was decided that "mosquee", imitating Middle French, Italian, and Old
Spanish, would become the standard spelling. In the early 18th
century, the terminal "e" was dropped in popular usage, making the
modern spelling ("mosque") the international standard.[2]"

As for Mecca being "house of wines", it is another silly and juvenile
fabrication... I doubt that an educated person like Zaki would base
his argument on such a joke. If you search the Internet by entering
the following search terms, highlighted in bold here: MECCA "HOUSE OF
WINES" you will find that the "House of Wines" is only mentioned in
pages containing this email or responses to it. But, if this silly
message gets more popular, a businessman might open a bar and name it
Mecca! Then, a few decades later this silly claim will find support of
chronologically challenged researchers with two digit IQs.

As for Moh'd, whether it is a "dog with big mouth" or a "camel with
huge hump" or "an ugly man with big mouth and tangled beard", it does
not matter. It is an unnecessary abbreviation since Muhammad is the
most popular and beautiful name in the world, and it is also ugly,
since it contains an apostrophe. Avoid apostrophe as you avoid flue or
apostates

Peace,