Ornamenting Mosques and Installing Mihrabs and Domes
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
We say: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, do we say that the ornamentation of mosques, the coloring of the walls, and the installation of domes and mihrabs are considered religious innovations (bid'ah) and their ornamentation?
Answer:
This requires a distinction. The mihrab is necessary, because if mihrabs were not installed in mosques, the direction of the qiblah would not be clear. If you entered a mosque that had no mihrab, you would not know where the qiblah is; the mihrab indicates the direction of the qiblah. Mihrabs have existed in the different eras of the Muslims, and they use them to determine the qiblah. This is not the issue; rather, what is blameworthy is exaggeration: exaggeration in the carvings, exaggeration in decorating the mihrabs, and making decorations for them. This is what is not permissible. As for making a mihrab without ornamentation and without exaggeration, that is something that is necessary. As for decorating the mosques with paints and inscriptions, that is prohibited, because this is one of the signs of the Hour in the last of times: the ornamentation of mosques. This falls under the category of blame, because mosques are not for showing off; mosques are for worship. So they are built to the extent of the need, built to the extent of the need, and their structure is strengthened so that it remains and lasts, but they are not ornamented, and they are not carved, because this distracts the worshippers. Inscriptions are written in them because this occupies the worshippers, and they are houses of worship and houses of awe and humility. So if a person enters and they are carved and ornamented with decorations, he becomes occupied with looking at them while he is praying and is distracted from the prayer, so this becomes a means to a lack of humility. As for domes, there is no harm in them, because this is an architectural art. Placing a dome in the mosque, or two domes according to the need, is an architectural art with no harm.
We say: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, do we say that the ornamentation of mosques, the coloring of the walls, and the installation of domes and mihrabs are considered religious innovations (bid'ah) and their ornamentation?
Answer:
This requires a distinction. The mihrab is necessary, because if mihrabs were not installed in mosques, the direction of the qiblah would not be clear. If you entered a mosque that had no mihrab, you would not know where the qiblah is; the mihrab indicates the direction of the qiblah. Mihrabs have existed in the different eras of the Muslims, and they use them to determine the qiblah. This is not the issue; rather, what is blameworthy is exaggeration: exaggeration in the carvings, exaggeration in decorating the mihrabs, and making decorations for them. This is what is not permissible. As for making a mihrab without ornamentation and without exaggeration, that is something that is necessary. As for decorating the mosques with paints and inscriptions, that is prohibited, because this is one of the signs of the Hour in the last of times: the ornamentation of mosques. This falls under the category of blame, because mosques are not for showing off; mosques are for worship. So they are built to the extent of the need, built to the extent of the need, and their structure is strengthened so that it remains and lasts, but they are not ornamented, and they are not carved, because this distracts the worshippers. Inscriptions are written in them because this occupies the worshippers, and they are houses of worship and houses of awe and humility. So if a person enters and they are carved and ornamented with decorations, he becomes occupied with looking at them while he is praying and is distracted from the prayer, so this becomes a means to a lack of humility. As for domes, there is no harm in them, because this is an architectural art. Placing a dome in the mosque, or two domes according to the need, is an architectural art with no harm.
Source
شرح قرة عيون الموحدين في تحقيق دعوة الأنبياء والمرسلين، باب قول الله - تعالى - : { إِنَّمَا ذَلِكُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ يُخَوِّفُ أَوْلِيَاءَهُ فَلا تَخَافُوهُمْ وَخَافُونِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ } — islamhouse.com (1:03:12)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.