Does praying in mosques that deviate from the Sunnah diminish the reward of the one who follows the Sunnah, and what is your practical opinion on addressing the violations that occur in mosques?

The questioner : The brother says,The questioner : Does praying in mosques that deviate from the Sunnah diminish the reward of the prayer of the one who follows the Sunnah, and what is your practical opinion on addressing the conditions of mosques that deviate from the Sunnah today?

The Shaykh : There is no remedy except that the volunteers or those in charge of building mosques, whether the funding comes from them or from others, should heed what was mentioned in the previous speech regarding the obligation to observe the Prophetic Sunnah in building mosques. There is no room for correcting those already built in contradiction to the Sunnah; rather, the scope is for directing the construction of new mosques toward the Sunnah. This phenomenon of direction is undoubtedly widespread in some mosques to some extent. I know that in every country I have stayed in, I have not found a mosque built with a minbar according to the Sunnah, or to put it more precisely, I have not found a mosque whose minbar does not cut off the first and second rows. This is what we know in all the mosques we have entered in all the countries we have stayed in. But today, you will find that many mosques have had their builders or funders pay attention to the harm of this minbar that cuts off the row, so they resorted to another method. Some of it is in accordance with the Sunnah, which is three steps, but this is rare. And some of it, which is more common, is a trick of twisting and turning, where for example they leave the minbar on top, but the entrance is from the mihrab or from a special room. This, of course, is not a path of the Shari'ah, but rather a matter of excessive strictness and artificiality in religion. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: However, this method is gentler than the previous method. The previous method is where the minbar cuts off a row or two rows. This method does not cut off any row, so this is better. But why this artificiality? Why this excessive strictness? He (peace be upon him) said: And the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). A minbar of three steps, and the matter is done. It does not cut off the row, and it does not impose this burden, and without this circle and twist. This is a phenomenon that promises good. Likewise, until recently, meaning until twenty years at least, I did not see in any mosque, if one wanted to pray the Sunnah, that he would move forward to a sutrah. People would pray wherever they stood. But now, praise be to Allah, there is no harm. In fact, you will find some imams, whom we unfortunately think are not on the Sunnah, yet they place a curtain in front of them because they pray far from the mihrab because next to it is the minbar that cuts off the row, so they move back and place the sutrah. All these are phenomena that promise good. But as you know, good is slow in spreading among people, unlike evil. Therefore, we believe that the call and explanation of the Sunnah to people will find acceptance from people if they are informed, because most people do not know. For this reason, I mentioned earlier the possibility that those who spend those huge sums of money in raising and decorating the mosques were misguided. It was said to them that this is in the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: They understand here a physical raising, whereas this is not what is intended. Rather, it is by their maintenance, as came in some hadiths. The conclusion is that this emerging custom regarding the marriage contract should be considered secondary, and the original is the Shari'ah contract. Otherwise, we would judge the contracts of hundreds of thousands who contract a Shari'ah contract that is not legal as not being a Shari'ah contract, and this is not said by one who has been given a particle of knowledge.