Reserving spots in the front row on Friday
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: On Friday, many people come and reserve spots in the front row, then they leave. When a person comes early, he finds no spot except in the second row. Is this permissible?
Answer:
The one who reserves a spot and then leaves, taking his mat and marking his place, has no right to do so. This is except for a person who is going somewhere and intends to return soon, such as to perform wudu or to handle a quick matter and then come back; he has the right. But if he intends to go sleep, or go to work, or go to buy and sell, he has no right. He has no right to reserve a spot. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: On Friday, many people come and reserve spots in the front row, then they leave. When a person comes early, he finds no spot except in the second row. Is this permissible?
Answer:
The one who reserves a spot and then leaves, taking his mat and marking his place, has no right to do so. This is except for a person who is going somewhere and intends to return soon, such as to perform wudu or to handle a quick matter and then come back; he has the right. But if he intends to go sleep, or go to work, or go to buy and sell, he has no right. He has no right to reserve a spot. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل فيما في الشرك والزنا واللواطة من الخبث — islamhouse.com (1:07:13)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.