Ruling on Moving Stones from an Old Mosque to a House

Q: From Abdulaziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz to the honorable brother: H. M. R., may Allah guide him to all that is good. Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings. After that:
Your noble letter, dated 17/10/1392 AH, has arrived—may Allah guide you to His path—and it contains a question about the ruling on moving the stones of a very old mosque. With the passage of time, floods have buried it, and it is possible that there is a grave inside it. Is it permissible for any Muslim to move its stones to his house and take them as his property?

A: If a mosque or something similar is ruined by a flood or other causes, it is prescribed for the people of the neighborhood where the mosque is located to restore it and establish prayer in it. This is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): And based on the statement of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her): “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered that mosques be built in residential areas and that they be cleaned and perfumed.” This was narrated by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and Ibn Majah with a good chain of narration.
By “residential areas” (al-dawar), one means tribes, neighborhoods, and the like. There are many hadiths regarding the virtue of restoring mosques. If there is a mosque in the neighborhood that is sufficient for the people, its stones and ruins should be used for another mosque in another neighborhood or town that needs it. It is the responsibility of the one in authority in the town where the aforementioned mosque is located—whether a judge, an emir, a tribal sheikh, or the like—to take care of this matter, and to move these ruins to restore mosques that need them, or to sell them and use the proceeds for the benefit of the Muslims. No one from the people of the town may take anything from them without the permission of the one in authority.
If there is a grave in the mosque, it is obligatory to dig it up and move any bones found within it to the town’s cemetery, where a grave should be dug for them and they should be buried. This is because it is not permissible in the Shari'ah to place graves in mosques or to build mosques on top of them, as this is one of the means of shirk (associating partners with Allah) and fitnah (trial) regarding the buried person. This has occurred in most Muslim lands for a long time due to the exaggeration of the people of graves.
It is established that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered the digging up of the graves that were in the location of his mosque (peace and blessings be upon him). It is established in the two Sahihs from him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: In Sahih Muslim, from Abu Mirdad al-Ghunawi (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: Also in Sahih Muslim, from Jundub ibn Abdullah al-Bajali (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: In the two Sahihs, from Umm Salama and Umm Habiba (may Allah be pleased with them both), they mentioned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) a church they had seen in Abyssinia and the images in it, so he said: In Sahih Muslim, from Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: Al-Tirmidhi (may Allah have mercy on him) added in his narration with a sound chain: .
These hadiths and what comes in their meaning all indicate the prohibition of building on graves, making them into mosques, praying in them or toward them, plastering them, and the like of the causes of shirk with their inhabitants.
Included in this is placing curtains on them, writing on them, pouring perfumes on them, burning incense for them, and placing flowers on them. This is all a means of exaggeration regarding them and shirk with their inhabitants. Therefore, it is obligatory for all Muslims to be cautious of this and to warn against it, especially the ones in authority, for their obligation is greater and their responsibility is more significant, as they are more capable than others of removing these and other munkar (evil) acts. Due to their negligence and the silence of many of those who claim knowledge, these evils have multiplied and spread in most Islamic lands, leading to shirk and falling into what the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) fell into, who worshipped al-Lat, al-Uzza, Manat, and others, and said, as Allah mentioned about them in His great Book: [Yunus: 18] [Az-Zumar: 3].
The scholars have stated that if a grave is placed in a mosque, it is obligatory to dig it up and remove it from the mosque. If the mosque was built later, after the grave already existed, it is obligatory to demolish the mosque and remove it, because it is the mosque that caused the evil by being built. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) warned against building mosques on graves and cursed the Jews and Christians for doing so, and he prohibited his Ummah from imitating them. He said to Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) : May Allah, the One to be asked, rectify the conditions of all Muslims, grant them understanding in their religion, rectify their leaders, unite their word on taqwa (mindfulness of Allah), and guide them to rule by His Shari'ah and to be cautious of what contradicts it. Indeed, He is Generous and Bountiful. And may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions, and whoever follows his path until the Day of Judgment.