What are the best places for education: are they mosques or schools?

The Shaykh : As for me, I think the question is wrong; because it stems from a transient custom, namely the mosque and the school. Do you see how things were in the earliest, purest Salafi era? The mosques were the schools. Therefore, if it were correct to pose such a question, at the very least we should say: No, there is a vast difference between the mosque and the school! The mosque is more prominent than the school. But I say: the question is wrong in its origin; because we must verify the common saying: "History repeats itself." We, in the end of time, must return to what was the case in the beginning of time. Matters of worship should be like this. So, the mosques now are like churches—and do not compare them!—the mosques are like churches in reality, in that they are under the supervision of ministries that do not uphold the Shari'ah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) properly. So the mosques are just what? Pray this prayer and close the door. Whereas these mosques must have different schools in them, as was the case in the first era. I am of the present generation, and I witnessed in "The Umayyad Mosque" here in Damascus a circle teaching hadith, a circle teaching grammar, a circle teaching Hanafi and Shafi'i fiqh, and so on. So the mosque was full of teaching and education. History mentions that even astronomy was taught in some of the past eras in the mosques.
So, we should not pose such a question, but rather we must demolish it completely, and say:
"Have you not seen that the sword's worth decreases *** When it is said: The sword is sharper than the stick"
What did the school bring to the mosque?! These schools are suitable for those who do not have mosques. As for those who have mosques, they are mosques for prayers and acts of worship, and they are mosques for teaching knowledge. And there is wisdom in this; these schools that are in the mosques are restricted to teaching what is beneficial, not teaching what is harmful. That is: in that case, the science of economics is not taught in the mosque, with dealings in riba (usury or interest), precise calculations, and what relates to that, and so on. So making the school in the mosque becomes a material, unconscious cause for Muslims to be diverted from studying what is not permissible; because this is a mosque. In the schools today, as they say, the fine arts are taught, what are they? Singing, music, musical instruments, and the like, acting, singing, and so on. Therefore, I say: it is not the same. The mosque is what is given precedence over the school. Then, when Muslims follow the path of their righteous predecessors, the mosque becomes better than a school. I do not say it becomes a school, but rather better than a school. Therefore, you must build up the mosques, and that will suffice you from schools.

The questioner : Okay, Shaykh, if we integrated school classrooms into the mosque, and the classrooms became surrounding the mosque, as the Turks did... in Turkey; what is your opinion, Shaykh, on this matter?

The Shaykh : By Allah, this is different for me from schools, but—also—I see it is better that they be in the same mosque; so that one can benefit from these non-regular lessons in the lessons. That is: when the schools have special doors, even if in the mosque = -- may Allah reward you with good -- = the general worshippers do not attend a lesson, neither in hadith nor in fiqh nor in any beneficial science, unless they are officially registered as students in such-and-such a school. So making the schools rooms around the mosque, and this is common in Damascus. I remember, for example, a school with a strange name in Damascus, in a district called "al-Qaymariyyah," "The Cat School"; meaning the school of cats. They say there was a specific endowment for feeding cats. And this is, of course, something that contemporary writers take pride in today. And this pride, although it is right for us to have it, they display it before the disbelievers, meaning that civilization is from us, not from you. Kindness to animals reached with us a level beyond imagination, but with reasonable logic and transmitted Shari'ah.
We had in Damascus meadows endowed for the care of horses, an endowment.

The questioner : Meadows.

The Shaykh : Yes, whoever has horses comes to graze them for free. And from that, this school is named "The Cat School"; meaning the cats.
The point is: it is a mosque, of course, facing the qiblah, and this western and eastern side has rooms. These rooms are schools, meaning school rooms. Also, we have "Sultan Selim Mosque," this is in Damascus. If you go to Damascus, to the hospital they call "National," and it was formerly called "The Strangers' Hospital," there are also many rooms on both sides, in the Turkish style; every room has a small dome on top. Yes, I do not see this separation between the mosque and the school at all; because first, according to our method which says:
"And all good is in following those who came before, *** And all evil is in the innovation of those who came after."
And secondly: there is a reduction of good when the organized circles, the organized lessons that we want to put in rooms, are closed off to the students, confined and counted. These lessons, when they are made in the mosque, the benefit extends beyond these students. And this is, in reality, as I began to indicate, that I witnessed in the Umayyad Mosque many circles that students of knowledge would visit. And although in some of these circles—for example—there are things we disapprove of, such as—for example—their gathering for dhikr (remembrance of Allah) that is not prescribed, and reciting the anthems they call religious anthems, and being swayed by them, swaying like this to the right and left.
But the benefit, without doubt, if the lessons are open and not restricted by schools, is broader and more comprehensive. But—regrettably—taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence) prevails among Muslims. And not only for the Muslim fathers and grandfathers, but taqlid even of the Westerners. So it is the realization of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . In a narration in "Sunan al-Tirmidhi": . Subhan Allah! Meaning this blind imitation is completely clear.
Recently, I was talking with Abu 'Abdullah about the murderous dawn raiders, these whom the newspapers wrote about; that they sentenced them to death, writing an account of what these people did and what they committed, and that the court decided to hang four of them. They do not mention the Shari'ah at all, they do not mention anything other than that these people violated the honor of humanity, they do not know the value of humanity, this or that. Words that if a disbeliever said them or a believer said them, it is the same. It does not indicate that when this person writes this, what is his identity, Muslim or disbeliever? A verse: They do not touch on mentioning it.
Yes?

The questioner : They wrote at the end: And the eye of Allah watches over this town.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : They wrote at the end: And the eye of Allah watches over this town.

The Shaykh : Who wrote this? We are talking about the rulers who issue these rulings, that they do not rely on the Shari'ah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And then, killing by hanging is a method that is absolutely not permissible in Islam, and it is contrary to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . But if one of the murderous dawn raiders killed an innocent person in a specific way, for example, he is killed in the same way. I said recently, a man kills another by strangling, so he is strangled. Another kills a person by crushing the head with stones, as the Jew did in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) with that maidservant, where he killed her by crushing her with stones and then fled. Some people caught up with her, and she had a breath of life left, so they asked her, and she said: So-and-so the Jew.
No, you have to work with the scale, with the hanging, not just kill like this, killing like dogs without calculation!!

Another questioner : I drank...

The Shaykh : Do you have a headache?

Another questioner : A headache, yes.

The Shaykh : He told you: It is not permissible!

The questioner : If he has high blood pressure...

The Shaykh : No, he has a headache; so ... .