What is the ruling on limiting the construction of the mosque to mud and palm fronds, since this was the practice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the practice of Abu Bakr and 'Umar?

The questioner : Regarding the issue of building the mosque.

The Shaykh : Regarding what specifically?

The questioner : Building mosques!

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : There is a group that wanted to build a mosque in a village, so they said: We will build the mosque with mud and palm trunks and roof it with palm fronds. They said: We will not deviate from this, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) built his mosque in this manner, and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and 'Umar came after him and added to the mosque but did not deviate from the method of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in this. When 'Uthman came after them, he changed the construction, adding stones and other things. So they say: 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? They also cite authentic reports that I mentioned, including that the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) offered to give the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) money to improve the mosque, but he said: , and he refused to do anything but make it in this form, even though he had the ability to make it better than it was, yet he did not make it in any other form?!

The Shaykh : And he raised its construction, but this does not mean that the matter stops at the formalism you described regarding those people who insisted on the method of the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) in building his mosque, namely: on palm trunks, for example, and a roof of palm branches and the like. Because this actual event that occurred from the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) is an ordinary matter, and there is nothing in his words (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) indicating that this action that occurred is what must be adhered to, that it must be adhered to and it is not permissible to deviate from it. There is no such restriction in the words of the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him). There is in the words of the Messenger: , there is in the words of the Messenger: , and he said to Ibn 'Abbas: . There are in the words of the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) such hadiths that prohibit the decoration of mosques and boasting in their construction, but there is no word that obligates Muslims, if they want to build mosques in the way he built his first mosque, to do so. Look now: Adhering to this method means that when the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) built his mosque, he came to a wall, to a garden belonging to some young men of the Ansar, and said to them: . The point is: , etc. Being rigid about this form means: You must buy land that has graves in it; this is the meaning of rigidity. Then you dig them up and remove them, and it must have palm trees in it, and it is not permissible to buy empty land and bring in palm trees yourself, for example, as columns, using trunks from the palm trees! This is what a person says who has absolutely no understanding of Islamic jurisprudence. I believe that these people, after they became students of knowledge, let alone being from the people of knowledge whom the people of knowledge certify for virtue and knowledge, and this is a plague of the present age, indeed a plague of the Muslim youth in the present age, and that as soon as 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 with knowledge, so arrogance and self-admiration took hold of them, and we fear that the saying of the Messenger (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him) will include them: . This is first. Second: These people are ignorant, and I do not say: they are willfully ignorant, because they are from the people of ignorance. When do we say about a person that he is willfully ignorant? If he is from the people of knowledge, then he has a bias in himself and is willfully ignorant. These people are not from the people of knowledge.
When 'Uthman brought wood instead of palm trees, and it was sheet wood 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 of him, and no one denied it to him?! As far as I know, and I do not think those people knew, that any of the Companions denied this action of his. Then, let us suppose 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, etc. And I fear, what I most fear, is that these people will bring us back to imposing on Muslims the prohibition of tamattu'—perhaps I am not precise in my expression—I say: Perhaps these people will bring us back to saying: It is not permissible to enjoy the means of riding 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 referred to in His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): . I fear, what I most fear, is that we will reach this point.