What is the Sunnah in building mosques?

The questioner : O Shaykh, regarding the issue of building a mosque.

The Shaykh : Regarding what?

The questioner : Building mosques.

The Shaykh : Ah.

The questioner : There is a group that wanted to build a mosque in a village, so they said they would build the mosque with clay and palm trunks, and roof it with palm fronds. They said they would not deviate from this, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) built his mosque in this manner. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) came after him, and 'Umar, and they added to the mosque but did not deviate from the method of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in this. And when 'Uthman came after them, he changed the construction and added stones and other things. They say that this is the Sunnah in building the mosque, and they do not want to deviate from this method of construction. I do not know what your answer to them is. I also cite from the authentic athar that the Companions mentioned: they offered to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to give him money to improve the mosque, so he said and he refused except to make it in this form. He had the ability to make it better than it was, but he did not make it except in this form.

The Shaykh : This statement contains truth and error. There is no doubt that in Islam, it is not permissible to boast in the construction of mosques, nor is it permissible to build them high and raise their structures. But this does not mean that the matter stops at the formalism you described regarding those people who held fast to the method by which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) built his mosque, i.e., on palm trunks, for example, and a roof of palm branches and the like. Because this is a matter that occurred from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) as a normal occurrence, and there is nothing in his words (peace and blessings be upon him) indicating that this action that occurred is what must be adhered to and from which deviation is not permissible. There is no such restriction in the words of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). There is in the words of the Messenger There is in the words of the Messenger And Ibn 'Abbas said, "You will adorn them just as the Jews and Christians adorned them." There are such hadiths in the words of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that prohibit the adornment of mosques and boasting in their construction. But there is no word that obligates Muslims, if they want to build mosques in the manner in which he built his first mosque, to adhere to this method. Look now at adhering to this method: when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) built his mosque, he came to a wall of a garden belonging to some young men from the Ansar and said to them meaning, take the price from me. They said, "O Messenger of Allah, it is for Allah." The point is that there were graves of polytheists, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) dug them up and removed them. And there were only palm trunks, so he cut them and made them pillars for the mosque, and so on. Being rigid about this form, I mean, being rigid means you must buy land that has graves on it. This is the meaning of rigidity: graves that you dig up and remove, and it must have palm trees, and it is not permissible to buy empty land and bring in palm trunks yourself, for example, as pillars. This is not what a person with any understanding of Islamic jurisprudence would say. I believe that these people, after they became students of knowledge, let alone being among the people of knowledge who are certified by the people of knowledge for virtue and knowledge, this is a plague of the present age, indeed a plague of the Muslim youth in the present age. And that merely because they feel that they have known something of knowledge that they were not previously aware of, they raised their heads and thought that they had encompassed everything in knowledge. So arrogance and self-admiration took hold of them, and we fear that the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) will include them: This is first. Second, these people are ignorant, and I do not say they are feigning ignorance, because they are from the people of ignorance. When do we say that a person is feigning ignorance? If he is from the people of knowledge, then he has a bias in himself and feigns ignorance. These people are not from the people of knowledge. When 'Uthman brought wood instead of palm trunks, and the wood was tin as also came in the hadith, what was the position of the Companions toward him? Did they deny it to him, or was it a matter they approved for him? And no one denied it to him as far as I know, and I do not think that those people knew that any of the Companions denied his action. Then let us assume that someone was found who denied it; what is the weight of this denial? Is it prohibition, or is it opposing the preferred? There is no doubt that jurisprudential issues must be weighed with a very precise scale, so we do not forbid what is disliked, and we do not dislike what is permissible, and so on. And I fear, what I most fear, is that these people will bring us back to forbidding Muslims from enjoying, or perhaps I am not precise in my expression, I say perhaps these people will bring us back to saying that it is not permissible to enjoy the means of transportation that Allah created for Muslims, which the predecessors did not know, and they will obligate us to return to riding camels, donkeys, mules, and horses, and leave these means that Allah created and indicated by His saying: What I most fear is that we will reach that point. Yes.

The questioner : They say this only regarding the building of the mosque. As for a library attached to the mosque, they said there is no objection to it being built with cement and iron, and this has no bearing on it. But for the building, they want to follow the example.

The Shaykh : What is it that has no objection?

The questioner : There is no objection to the library being built.

The Shaykh : A library?

The questioner : A library attached to the mosque, and the bathrooms and facilities. They say there is no objection to these being built with iron and cement, and this is only for the mosque. They want to follow the action of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the action of Abu Bakr and 'Umar.

The Shaykh : My brother, what is the difference? What does the action of Abu Bakr and 'Umar indicate?

The questioner : That it is the preferred.

The Shaykh : That it is obligatory?

The questioner : They say this is the preferred, and we want to revive this Sunnah.

The Shaykh : Do these people who say it is the preferred hold fast to everything that is the preferred?

The questioner : By Allah, they hold fast, and Allah knows best. We consider them to be on the best.

The Shaykh : Allah knows best that this is impossible.

The questioner : Then, O Shaykh, they said, ask.The Shaykh : Ask Nasser and ask.The Shaykh : Ask Maqbul and ask the Shaykhs about this issue. They have now stopped this and said, ask the scholars, because there are people who donated to the mosque. They were of this opinion and said, ask the Shaykhs and the people of knowledge. So what does it mean? They should answer in this. This is their request, O Shaykh. They were seeking a fatwa...

The Shaykh : The answer has preceded. I have nothing other than what you heard, but now I clarify and say: Is their statement in every country, or in the lands of palm trees?

The questioner : By Allah, in their land. They want to do this action. I did not ask them this question. Allah knows best.

The Shaykh : O Shaykh, you must ask them so that you know the narrowness... and the scope of their thinking is very limited.

The questioner : I said.

The Shaykh : These people do not look beyond the tip of their nose. These people restrict the Shari'ah of Allah to the land they are in. Do we want to build a mosque here and send to them to send us palm trunks? What is this talk? If they have this matter available to them and they do not need to endure the heat and cold in winter in such roofs as we use today, then let them do as they wish. We are with them in not bringing adornments into the mosques, and we deny all these buildings that are built today in the style of mosques, and we deny the method of expansion in the two mosques in the Makkah Haram and the Madinah Haram. These are all adornments, and these are not prescribed. And I like here the word of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Imam al-Bukhari narrated in his Sahih, as a hanging hadith, to the one who ordered him to add to the Prophet's Mosque: "Shelter the people from the heat and cold." And this is what I take as an argument against your group, these people: "Shelter the people from the heat and cold, and do not make it red or yellow."

The questioner : Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : Do you see that this combines removing harm and bringing about benefit? It protects people from heat and cold, and it does not use red or yellow paint. For example, in some countries, such as the Arab countries where heat predominates, people have become accustomed to these types of mosques where air and wind circulate. Because if it were made of concrete, and may Allah protect us, it would become a hellhole due to the fact that this concrete traps the heat, and so on. What I mean to say is that when 'Umar ibn al-Khattab added the extra clause, he pointed to the principle in building mosques: "Protect people from heat and cold, and do not use red or yellow." Using red and yellow is adornment, and this is prohibited in some of the hadiths we mentioned. However, protecting people from heat and cold is a means for them to first preserve their health, and this falls under the meaning of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) This hadith is well known in the authentic collections. The body has a right over its owner to ward off the harm of heat and cold from it. So if they build a mosque, this right remains valid in that mosque as well. There is no objection to building this mosque in a way that allows them to be at ease in their worship, prayers, and humility, without having to worry about using fans during the prayer. Rather, the mosque should be built in a way that does not include red or yellow, and so on, but where they are safe from heat and cold. The method adopted by these people as a necessity does not achieve what 'Umar ibn al-Khattab said: "Protect people from heat and cold." And I say that what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did, he did so because that was what was made easy for him. How do they know that if wood columns, for example, ready-made like tamarisk and other known trees, and wooden ceilings as they used to do in Syria not long ago, had been made easy for him—where they would stretch thin wood and put red clay mixed with straw on top of it, which would repel the heat—I believe that if this had been made easy for the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), he would not have delayed in doing so and would have built it as he built his first mosque. And the Messenger, my brothers, is not like us today. The Messenger is occupied with conveying the call; is he free and available to build a mosque leisurely, with planning and study, and so on? No, he wants to gather people in this mosque by the quickest means that Allah makes easy for him. But if what 'Umar ibn al-Khattab mentioned, and he is the Faruq as we stated, had been made easy, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have fallen short in that. Because in truth, as we Muslims take pride over the followers of other religions, it is among the virtues of Islam that it came to achieve the benefit of both the material and the spiritual at the same time. This adherence to this rigidity achieves only the material aspect. As for the spiritual aspect to which 'Umar ibn al-Khattab pointed: "Protect people from heat and cold, and do not use red or yellow," without a doubt, these people are one of two: either they did not come across the report of 'Umar, or they came across it and acted arrogantly. And from here comes the fitnah and arrogance, where they are pleased with what they see and not pleased with what the Salaf said or did. This is 'Umar saying this word, and that is 'Uthman building that mosque in the way Allah made easy for him. And yet they return to building the mosque in the way of the Messenger. The way of the Messenger does not suggest that it was an intended end in itself, meaning a worship intended for its own sake, but rather it was what was made easy for him.

Another questioner : It is a customary sunnah.

The Shaykh : Yes.

Another questioner : It is a customary sunnah, not a sunnah of worship.

The Shaykh : Yes, this is what was made easy for him, and only this.

Another questioner : The brother says that the Companions offered him money, but he refused.

The Shaykh : No, this is extraneous. This is not in the hadith of Ali, "like the shelter of Moses," that they offered him something like this. But they offered to raise the ceiling a little, and he said to them: Please.