Ruling on Reserving Spaces in Mosques
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner says: We often find people reserving spaces in the mosques. Is it permissible for them to do so, especially during the Friday prayer?
Answer:
If he reserves the space and then goes out to sleep in his house or goes out to his work, he has no right to do so. Whoever arrives at the mosque first has the stronger right to it. However, if he is present in the mosque and places something in his spot to keep it, there is nothing wrong with that. That is, if he moves to a side of the mosque to rest and ease his back, he is present in the mosque and may place something to hold the space for him. But if he reserves the space and then goes to his work, or goes to sleep in his house, or sits in his house, that is forbidden for him and not permissible. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
This questioner says: We often find people reserving spaces in the mosques. Is it permissible for them to do so, especially during the Friday prayer?
Answer:
If he reserves the space and then goes out to sleep in his house or goes out to his work, he has no right to do so. Whoever arrives at the mosque first has the stronger right to it. However, if he is present in the mosque and places something in his spot to keep it, there is nothing wrong with that. That is, if he moves to a side of the mosque to rest and ease his back, he is present in the mosque and may place something to hold the space for him. But if he reserves the space and then goes to his work, or goes to sleep in his house, or sits in his house, that is forbidden for him and not permissible. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
قناة «السعودية»، برنامج فتاوى مع معالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com (22:26)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.