The ruling on reserving a place in the mosque

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says, may Allah preserve you: There is a lot of talk among the students of knowledge in this mosque and others about the issue of reserving a place in the mosque. He asks: What is the ruling on this in detail? May Allah preserve you.

Answer:
If a person reserves a place and then gets up to answer a call of nature and returns, or to perform wudu' and returns, he has the right to it and may reserve it. However, if he sells his reservation and goes to sleep or goes to work and comes back later, this is not permissible; it is haram (forbidden). The reservation is lifted because the mosque belongs to whoever arrived first. But if he is sitting in the mosque and gets up to lean against the mosque's wall, or places something in his place that does not cause harm, there is no problem, because he is present. Or if he gets up for a quick need and returns, there is no problem; he has the right to the place because he is considered a present person who is sitting.