The ruling on decorating mosques.

The Shaykh : And for this reason, the scholars held that mosques should not be decorated or engraved, because they are places built for the Muslim to devote himself to worship with his heart fully turned to his Lord - Blessed and Exalted is He -. For this reason, it is established in "Sahih al-Bukhari" from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that when he renovated the Prophet's Mosque or added to it, he said to the architect: "Shelter the people from heat and cold, but do not make it red or yellow." He wanted a building in which people take refuge and are protected from the severity of heat and the severity of cold, because that is the purpose of building the mosque. But do not make it red or yellow, because redness is part of decoration, and nothing of such decorations should be in the mosque. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited, in a subtle manner that was not explicit, the building of decorated mosques, and he said (peace and blessings be upon him): , . Abdullah ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrated this hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and he commented on the hadith by saying: "You will surely decorate them just as the Jews and Christians decorated them." Ibn 'Abbas, after narrating this hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): . Ibn 'Abbas said, deriving from this hadith and others, affirming what he was saying: "You will surely decorate them just as the Jews and Christians decorated them." How did he know this news that we now see as a reality? Our mosques today are decorated just as churches are decorated. In fact, many Muslims who volunteer to build mosques, either from their own pockets or in partnership with others, actually boast of building mosques that are fully decorated, thinking that by doing so they are doing a good deed, not realizing that they are following the ways of those who came before them, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . They said: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? The Jews and the Christians? He said: . Who in this world can be a bad power for the peoples and other nations? There is no one but the Jews and the Christians. And here are the Muslims today following the Jews and Christians heel by heel, not only in purely worldly matters, which is a tangible, concrete matter that is not hidden from anyone. What is this display of adornment and this immodesty that has spread among women and men, among young men and young women, but an imitation by these Muslims of the disbelievers, the Jews and the Christians? This is not all; their imitation of the disbelievers has even extended to acts of worship, in the mosques that should be built for the face of Allah - Blessed and Exalted is He -. If one draws the attention of someone involved in building a mosque and advises him not to build it engraved and decorated, he answers you by saying: "My brother, these churches today are decorated, and even our houses are decorated. Is not the House of Allah more deserving of decoration?" As if the matter is purely material for them. And unfortunately, they are unaware that our houses are part of our worldly life, whereas the Houses of Allah - Blessed and Exalted is He - are for our Hereafter. Therefore, what is for the Hereafter should not be measured by what is for the world. The house is where we live to enjoy ourselves and to be entertained, and so on. But the mosque is built for a person to be alone with his Lord - Blessed and Exalted is He -, to gather his heart in his prayer, in his turning to his Lord - Mighty and Majestic -. Therefore, it is not permissible to measure mosques by churches or by our houses. The mosques, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Then, from another angle, it is not permissible for a Muslim to measure his Islam by the religion of the Christians and the religion of the Jews, because they have taken their religion as amusement and play. The Jews and the Christians have taken their religion as amusement and play. Therefore, it is not permissible for us either to take our religion as amusement and play. Today, visitors from disbelieving Europeans or Americans come to the Umayyad Mosque to look at its decorations. If it were the Mosque of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), which he built with his own hands, and which the Rightly Guided Caliphs expanded after him, they would not enter the Mosque of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him); rather, they would flee from it, because it was built on humility and on the basis of 'Umar's words: "Shelter the people from heat and cold, but do not make it red or yellow." The coming of disbelievers to look at the decorations of the Umayyad Mosque or other mosques built in the era of past Islamic glory, the coming of these disbelievers to look at the traces of decoration in the Islamic mosque, is this something that honors Muslims or something that lowers them? There is no doubt that the former is farthest from them. Therefore, the one who enters the Umayyad Mosque enters and does not know, on many days, does not know whether this is a mosque or a church. Why? Because of the many strangers, men and women, who enter this mosque in attire and conditions that expose the 'awrah, whether they are men or women. All of this is a result of deviation from the Sunnah in our mosques and in our worship and our obedience to Allah - Blessed and Exalted is He -. The conclusion: That practicing the profession is a matter in which the Shari'ah commands, but within the limits of moderation and adherence to the lawful means.