What is the ruling on praying in a prayer hall that has residential apartments above it

The questioner : Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And peace be upon you. May Allah welcome you, O Shaykh. And you as well.

The questioner : O Shaykh, if you please, I have a question to ask you regarding a mosque that has apartment buildings above it in a densely populated area. There is, well, the area where it is located, the mosque is a bit far away, and then someone built a mosque there. And he built apartments above the mosque, meaning for himself or his children and so on. And even though the bathrooms of the apartments above are far from the mosque, meaning. So, of course, praise be to Allah, they pray in it normally, and everything is fine, but some of the brothers issued a ruling saying that it is not permissible to pray in it, even though it is just a prayer hall, not a mosque where Friday prayers are held and so on. So what is the ruling of Islam in this case?

The Shaykh : There is no need for this. Yes. There is no harm in this if it was established in this state from the beginning.

The questioner : Ah, no, it was established and its qiblah is facing the qiblah, meaning it is official, there is nothing wrong with it, but some of the brothers say that it is not permissible to build above the mosque, and so on, even though, praise be to Allah, it is crowded with worshippers and so on.

The Shaykh : Shaykh, may Allah bless you, if the one who established this established it from the start,

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : as a mosque with a building above it.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : If the mosque was established first, then it is not permissible to build anything on top of it.

The questioner : No, he established it and built above it immediately, meaning this idea, so does the situation remain as it is, or what is the legal ruling in this case?

The Shaykh : It remains as it is, as long as it was from the start and his intention was that this is a mosque and what is above it is a store, there is no harm.

The questioner : Because he did not know, meaning, that building on the mosque is not permissible, or someone said to you that this is an area, or at least he forces the children and people to pray in it, meaning.

The Shaykh : Thank you, may Allah bless you.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : If his intention from the start was to build this structure, with at least a mosque at the bottom and a store at the top, there is no harm.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : But if the mosque was built first and it is not in his hand to build anything above it, then it is not permissible to create anything above it.