And what is the ruling on praying in decorated mosques?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Shaykh, you mentioned the treatment of mosques, but what about praying in decorated mosques?
The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. Subhan Allah, I was thinking that I had not completed my answer, so you reminded me. There is no deficiency for the one who strives to pray in a mosque that has the least amount of religious innovation and deviation from the Sunnah. I mean what I say: he prays in a mosque that has less religious innovation than others, or less deviation from the Sunnah. As for those heedless people who do not distinguish between this and that, their reward is certainly deficient. I mention on this occasion what I say to those who strive to pray in a mosque with the least religious innovation, based on what Abu Dawud narrated in his Sunan with a good chain that 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) entered a mosque and heard a caller shouting from the mosque, looking out the window, saying, "Prayer, prayer!" He said to his companion, "This is a mosque in which there is religious innovation, so get out of it." He did not find any religious innovation except from this caller who was saying, "Prayer, prayer." This is a religious innovation that is very widespread in Syria, in the same manner that Ibn 'Umar saw and rejected. They open the window after the mu'adhdhin has called the adhan and gone to establish the prayer, saying, "O worshippers, the prayer is about to be established, the prayer." This is undoubtedly an objection to the Wise Lawgiver and is not permissible. I wanted to convey from this story that Ibn 'Umar found a way out to move from a mosque in which he saw this religious innovation to a mosque in which he did not find such religious innovation. But our mosques are not free from religious innovation, so I said in my previous answer that one should choose the one with the least religious innovation.[Al-Baqarah 2:286] I hope I have completed the answer, if Allah wills.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
Another questioner : Okay, this is regarding the mosques in terms of construction and decoration. What if there is an error in the imam himself?
The Shaykh : The same applies. Do you mean a Sunni imam who preserves the Qur'an, and so on? If it is feasible for you, otherwise, here is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the imams:Sahih al-Bukhari 694
The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. Subhan Allah, I was thinking that I had not completed my answer, so you reminded me. There is no deficiency for the one who strives to pray in a mosque that has the least amount of religious innovation and deviation from the Sunnah. I mean what I say: he prays in a mosque that has less religious innovation than others, or less deviation from the Sunnah. As for those heedless people who do not distinguish between this and that, their reward is certainly deficient. I mention on this occasion what I say to those who strive to pray in a mosque with the least religious innovation, based on what Abu Dawud narrated in his Sunan with a good chain that 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) entered a mosque and heard a caller shouting from the mosque, looking out the window, saying, "Prayer, prayer!" He said to his companion, "This is a mosque in which there is religious innovation, so get out of it." He did not find any religious innovation except from this caller who was saying, "Prayer, prayer." This is a religious innovation that is very widespread in Syria, in the same manner that Ibn 'Umar saw and rejected. They open the window after the mu'adhdhin has called the adhan and gone to establish the prayer, saying, "O worshippers, the prayer is about to be established, the prayer." This is undoubtedly an objection to the Wise Lawgiver and is not permissible. I wanted to convey from this story that Ibn 'Umar found a way out to move from a mosque in which he saw this religious innovation to a mosque in which he did not find such religious innovation. But our mosques are not free from religious innovation, so I said in my previous answer that one should choose the one with the least religious innovation.
Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity
ولا يكلف الله نفسا إلا وسعهاThe questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
Another questioner : Okay, this is regarding the mosques in terms of construction and decoration. What if there is an error in the imam himself?
The Shaykh : The same applies. Do you mean a Sunni imam who preserves the Qur'an, and so on? If it is feasible for you, otherwise, here is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the imams:
If the Imam leads the prayer correctly then he and you will receive the rewards but if he makes a mistake (in the prayer) then you will receive the reward for the prayer and the sin will be his.
يصلون بكم فإن أصابوا فلكم ولهم وإن أخطئوا فلكم وعليهم
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.