The Ruling on Advertising and Commercial Announcements in the Mosque

Question:
The Shaykh’s question is: What is the ruling on advertising in the mosque? Some merchants give a clock to the mosque, and it is broken with water in it, or something like that, and it has an advertisement on it. Is this considered advertising? He rejects it strongly.

Answer:
Yes, this is prohibited. It is prohibited to distribute commercial advertisements or anything else in the mosques. One does not distribute advertisements for trade, or for rentals, or an announcement seeking a place for rent, or anything similar. All of this is prohibited in the mosques. Nothing is to be displayed. The clocks that have advertisements on them should have the advertisements wiped off; the advertisement is wiped off. Likewise, the calendars that have a company’s advertisement or a shop’s advertisement should have the advertisement wiped off, or one should use a calendar that has no advertisement. The point is that it is not permissible to advertise in the mosques, because they were not built for advertising trade or seeking matters of this world.