ESTABLISHING ISSUES ON CHILDREN AT MASJID IN MALAYSIA THROUGH A DESKTOP STUDY

Abstract

Masjid is said to be the centre of a community but is often associated with adults when children are also part of the community. The image portrayed in the society shows children are often marginalised in the masjid. Children at masjid have been a continuous debate from time to time within the community, particularly during the month of Ramadhan (fasting month of the Muslim calendar) as the number of children attending masjids increase. This paper aims to establish the issues concerning children and masjid in Malaysia. For this purpose, a systematic desktop study is performed. Through the use of Google search engine, data are collected from several sources which are the Facebook post, YouTube video, articles from e-newspaper, blog posts, and e-magazine. The data is analysed using NVivo software to accumulate related keywords to identify and establish issues on children at the masjid. This study focuses on two main domains which are masjid and children. The findings suggest that the issues of children at masjid revolve around four established themes which are the children themselves, physical space, management of the masjid, and jamaah of the masjid.

Keyword: Children-friendly-masjid, issues of children at masjid, systematic desktop study