Is it permissible to depart from the principle of seeking knowledge in the mosques for political considerations or due to the known harassment in some countries by the Sufis and others?

The questioner : All right, let us move on to another question. Shaykh, it is well known that the place for seeking knowledge is in the mosques. Is it permissible to depart from this principle for political considerations or for the known harassment in some countries, such as from the Sufis and others? For example, is it permissible to study a book on hadith terminology or other subjects in the majlis (gathering halls) or in other places instead of in the mosques, given those circumstances? In other words, is it permissible to depart from this principle?

The Shaykh : Our expression that teaching in the mosques is a "principle" is open to scrutiny. If we set aside the notion of this principle, we would know that the answer is that it is permissible, because we have nothing that obligates us to teach only in the mosques. We know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to send individual callers from among his Companions, those known for their seniority in his company and their knowledge of Islam, to the desert and to the cities to call people to faith. As it came in "Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim," when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Mu'adh to Yemen, he said to him: . And so, this was not only in the mosque; it was in the deserts, in the highlands, in the houses, and in the mosques. The point is that under normal circumstances, there is nothing that obligates us to deliver lessons only in the mosques. There is nothing that obligates us to deliver lessons only in the mosques under normal circumstances. So how much more so when these circumstances change and pressures arise from some rulers due to their ignorance of Islam, or their hostility toward Islam, or so on? There is absolutely nothing that prevents teaching outside the mosque. This is part of fully realizing the generality of his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): . A person can teach people what is necessary for them on the road, as happened, for example, in "Sunan al-Nasa'i" and "Sunan al-Tirmidhi": . They indicate that the polytheists had a very large date palm tree on which they hung their weapons. So one of them said: . Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: or هذه السُنن ، لقد قلتم كما قال قوم موسى لموسى : اجْعَلْ لَنَا إِلَهًا كَمَا لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ These are the ways (of the polytheists). You have said what the people of Moses said to Moses: Make for us a god as they have gods.. So there is no objection to the call and knowledge being in every occasion, and it is not confined to the mosque at all. So the "principle" is this that I called a principle, but it has no basis as a principle. However, as a reality, it was so: the mosques in the early period were the schools of Islamic knowledge, and even later, schools for other beneficial sciences. But this does not mean that knowledge is taught only in the mosque. There is breadth in this matter, and praise be to Allah.

The questioner : May Allah preserve you. Some students of knowledge, when they studied the lives of the Salaf, found, for example, that the systematic scholarly lessons originated from the mosques.

The Shaykh : Yes, that is correct, but this does not negate...

The questioner : The principle.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : And that is the generality.

The Shaykh : The generality, yes.

The questioner: Yes.