Is it permissible to convert restrooms into a prayer hall?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : May Allah reward you, O Shaykh, is it permissible to convert restrooms into a prayer hall?
The Shaykh : Converting restrooms into a prayer hall.
The Shaykh : Do you mean praying in the bathroom?
The questioner : No, converting them means demolishing them, filling them in, and changing them.
The Shaykh : I am going to ask you: Why is it not permissible to pray in the bathroom, in the toilets?
The questioner : Because it is a place of ritual impurity.
The Shaykh : Because it is impure, and if the impurity is removed and it is purified.
The questioner : The impurity is gone.
The Shaykh : Is it permissible to pray then?
The questioner : It is permissible, but I say, let me ask a question.
The Shaykh : That is enough, that is enough, do not ask, yes. Now, if the ground is impure and you purify it with water, is it not permissible to pray on it? The Bedouin who came and urinated in the mosque was ordered by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to pour water on his urine, then it was purified and prayed in. Likewise, if graves are dug up and a mosque is built in their place, it is permissible to pray in them. Do you not know that the Prophet’s Mosque contained graves of polytheists, which were then dug up and made into the Prophet’s Mosque? Prayer in it is better than a thousand prayers in any other place except the Sacred Mosque? Did you understand?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So the ruling revolves with its cause; the ruling revolves with its cause. Now, water is purified with chemical substances. This sewage water, if these chemical substances are thrown on it and it is purified, it becomes pure, with nothing in it. And take this as a legal principle: "The ruling revolves with its cause in existence and absence". Yes.
The Shaykh : Converting restrooms into a prayer hall.
The Shaykh : Do you mean praying in the bathroom?
The questioner : No, converting them means demolishing them, filling them in, and changing them.
The Shaykh : I am going to ask you: Why is it not permissible to pray in the bathroom, in the toilets?
The questioner : Because it is a place of ritual impurity.
The Shaykh : Because it is impure, and if the impurity is removed and it is purified.
The questioner : The impurity is gone.
The Shaykh : Is it permissible to pray then?
The questioner : It is permissible, but I say, let me ask a question.
The Shaykh : That is enough, that is enough, do not ask, yes. Now, if the ground is impure and you purify it with water, is it not permissible to pray on it? The Bedouin who came and urinated in the mosque was ordered by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to pour water on his urine, then it was purified and prayed in. Likewise, if graves are dug up and a mosque is built in their place, it is permissible to pray in them. Do you not know that the Prophet’s Mosque contained graves of polytheists, which were then dug up and made into the Prophet’s Mosque? Prayer in it is better than a thousand prayers in any other place except the Sacred Mosque? Did you understand?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So the ruling revolves with its cause; the ruling revolves with its cause. Now, water is purified with chemical substances. This sewage water, if these chemical substances are thrown on it and it is purified, it becomes pure, with nothing in it. And take this as a legal principle: "The ruling revolves with its cause in existence and absence". Yes.