The Imām, or priest, of the mosque, is supported by endowments, or offerings, the Maulawīs, or professors of divinity by fees, or offerings, and the students of a mosque are supported either by endowments, or the benefactions of the people. In towns and villages there is a parish allotted to each mosque, and the people within the section of the parish claim the services of the Imām at their marriages and funerals, and they pay to him the usual offerings made on the two festivals.
In a large mosque, known as the Masjidu ʾl-Jāmīʿ, where the k͟hut̤bah, or Friday oration is delivered, a person known as the k͟hāt̤ib (also k͟hat̤īb), or preacher, is appointed, whose duty it is to lead the Friday prayer and to preach the sermon.
Muḥammad did not forbid women to attend public prayers in a mosque, but it is pronounced better for them to pray in private.
The following injunctions are given in the Qurʾān regarding mosques:—
[Sūrah vii. 29]: “O children of Adam! wear your goodly apparel when ye repair to any mosque.”
[Sūrah ix. 18]: “He only should visit the Masjids of God who believeth in God and the last day, and observeth prayer, and payeth the legal alms, and dreadeth none but God.”
THE JAMAʿ MASJID AT DELHI. (A. F. Hole.)
Muḥammad’s injunctions regarding mosques, as handed down in the Traditions, are as follows:—
“When you enter a Masjid, you must say, ‘O Creator! open on us the doors of Thy compassion’; and when you leave the Masjid, say, ‘O Lord! we supplicate thy munificence.’ ”