The ruling on excessive effort in building mosques, minarets, and domes
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Question:
This question has been asked many times. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings. And after that, what is the ruling on excessive effort in building mosques and placing strange domes and minarets in them, like the shape, to the end of the question? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
The issue of architectural style, such as placing a door or a plan in the mosque, is a simple matter. This is an architectural art, and there is nothing wrong with it. That is, whether one makes a plan or a complete plan, with columns or without columns, there is no harm in it. The intended purpose of the architect is that the mosque exists to suffice the people, sheltering them from the sun and warming them from the cold, whether it is domed or flat. Minarets are also permissible. The mosque is identified by the minaret; a mosque without a minaret is not known, and one does not find the way to it. Perhaps a house among the houses would obscure it. In fact, if there is a minaret and a mihrab, the ignorant person knows this mosque by them and heads toward it, and prays in it. So there is no harm in placing minarets as well. However, one must avoid extravagance. Extravagance in the decoration of mosques, or extravagance in minarets that are not needed—minarets that exceed the need—is extravagance that is not permissible. The minaret should be to the extent of the need, and the construction should be to the extent of the need, without extravagance in decoration, engravings, and the like of ornamentation. We have not prohibited it because it is extravagance and there is no need for it. Mosques should be of the appropriate standard, because they are not intended for adornment, nor for showing off. Rather, they are intended for the benefit of Muslims and providing shelter for Muslims for prayer. This is the purpose: gathering the Muslims, uniting the word of the Muslims. When they pray in one mosque, they come together, get to know one another, and there is connection and affection between them. This is the purpose of building mosques.
This question has been asked many times. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings. And after that, what is the ruling on excessive effort in building mosques and placing strange domes and minarets in them, like the shape, to the end of the question? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
The issue of architectural style, such as placing a door or a plan in the mosque, is a simple matter. This is an architectural art, and there is nothing wrong with it. That is, whether one makes a plan or a complete plan, with columns or without columns, there is no harm in it. The intended purpose of the architect is that the mosque exists to suffice the people, sheltering them from the sun and warming them from the cold, whether it is domed or flat. Minarets are also permissible. The mosque is identified by the minaret; a mosque without a minaret is not known, and one does not find the way to it. Perhaps a house among the houses would obscure it. In fact, if there is a minaret and a mihrab, the ignorant person knows this mosque by them and heads toward it, and prays in it. So there is no harm in placing minarets as well. However, one must avoid extravagance. Extravagance in the decoration of mosques, or extravagance in minarets that are not needed—minarets that exceed the need—is extravagance that is not permissible. The minaret should be to the extent of the need, and the construction should be to the extent of the need, without extravagance in decoration, engravings, and the like of ornamentation. We have not prohibited it because it is extravagance and there is no need for it. Mosques should be of the appropriate standard, because they are not intended for adornment, nor for showing off. Rather, they are intended for the benefit of Muslims and providing shelter for Muslims for prayer. This is the purpose: gathering the Muslims, uniting the word of the Muslims. When they pray in one mosque, they come together, get to know one another, and there is connection and affection between them. This is the purpose of building mosques.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-048-تحقيق دعوة الأنبياء والرسل|صالح الفوزان|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:05:00)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.