Making shops, etc. in Masjid

 

When a mosque is built in a place, then 7 levels down in the earth and up to the skies, that area is a mosque until the Day of Judgment and ought to be treated and respected like one.  Cellar or floors cannot be constructed and used as shops or for residence.  The rules for the cellar and different floors are exactly that of a mosque.  As given in Durre Mukhtaar, Vol. 1, Pg No: 485, and in Vol. 3, Pg No: 406:

Translation:  If there was a mosque and then the person who made the endowment (Waqf) desires to make something new in the reconstruction and says that this was his (or her) Niyyah (intention) while making the endowment, then this will not be acknowledged.  

Thus, if in the area of the mosque itself, reconstruction has been done, then it is Wajib (Compulsory) to demolish it, even if it is on the wall of the mosque. However, shops, etc.  can be constructed in the area where the toilets, wash room, etc. were there.  


And Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) knows best.

Mufti Syed Ziauddin Naqshbandi Qadri

[Professor, Islamic Law, Jamia Nizamia,

Founder-Director, Abul Hasanaat Islamic Research Center]