The Difference Between Praying in a Church and Praying in a Mosque of Harm
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Permission was given to the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) to pray in churches, and 'Umar prayed in the church of Bayt al-Maqdis. Is praying in churches for Allah similar to praying in a mosque of harm, or to slaughtering for Allah in a place where slaughter is performed for other than Allah? I ask for clarification of this issue.
The Shaykh:
No, no, no, no, this is not similar, because the People of the Book are upon the original religion of Musa or 'Isa (peace be upon them), so we treat them as such, and the original state of their places is that they are valid places of worship, so we do not pray in them, because the Companions prayed in them, just as the Christians prayed in the mosque of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) when they came from Najran. These are houses of worship, originally houses of worship for Allah, not built on graves or idols at all, but built for the worship of Allah, and the original state of them is that they are valid, so it was abrogated[Al-Hajj 22:40], this is the original state of them.
The questioner:
Or if it was.
The Shaykh:
That 'Umar prayed in the church with no one present.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Permission was given to the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) to pray in churches, and 'Umar prayed in the church of Bayt al-Maqdis. Is praying in churches for Allah similar to praying in a mosque of harm, or to slaughtering for Allah in a place where slaughter is performed for other than Allah? I ask for clarification of this issue.
The Shaykh:
No, no, no, no, this is not similar, because the People of the Book are upon the original religion of Musa or 'Isa (peace be upon them), so we treat them as such, and the original state of their places is that they are valid places of worship, so we do not pray in them, because the Companions prayed in them, just as the Christians prayed in the mosque of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) when they came from Najran. These are houses of worship, originally houses of worship for Allah, not built on graves or idols at all, but built for the worship of Allah, and the original state of them is that they are valid, so it was abrogated
monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned
صَوَامِعُ وَبِيَعٌ وَصَلَوَاتٌ وَمَسَاجِدُ يُذْكَرُ فِيهَا اسْمُ اللَّهِ كَثِيرًاThe questioner:
Or if it was.
The Shaykh:
That 'Umar prayed in the church with no one present.
Source
شرح قرة عيون الموحدين [15] — alfawzan.live (1:02:03)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.