Reading from the author's words with commentary on them: "As for the places of disbelief and sins, which had no punishment in them if they are made a place for faith
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The reader: "As for the places of disbelief and sins, which had no punishment in them if they are made a place for faith, or obedience: this is good, just as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the people of Ta'if to make the mosque in the place of their idols. And he ordered the people of al-Yamamah to make the mosque in the place of a shrine that was with them. And his mosque (peace and blessings be upon him) was a graveyard, so he made it a mosque after digging up the graves".
The Shaykh : And on this basis, what some of the brothers from the Muslim community in the lands of disbelief do, such as buying a church and making it a mosque, is of this type: they have made houses of disbelief into houses of faith and Islam. This is better than if they built a new mosque, because in this there is a public benefit and the removal of harm. The public benefit is that it was a place of worship, and the removal of harm is what? It is that the church was abolished, just as the author (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned. Good.
The Shaykh : And on this basis, what some of the brothers from the Muslim community in the lands of disbelief do, such as buying a church and making it a mosque, is of this type: they have made houses of disbelief into houses of faith and Islam. This is better than if they built a new mosque, because in this there is a public benefit and the removal of harm. The public benefit is that it was a place of worship, and the removal of harm is what? It is that the church was abolished, just as the author (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned. Good.