Ruling on demolishing a mosque that is no longer needed and has been abandoned
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This message reached us from one of our respected listeners, and it says: I hope you will please inform me about the following question: There is a mosque next to our house that is causing us harm. It is in ruins due to floods and has been abandoned from prayer for a year and a half. No one has prayed in it because a new mosque, a congregational mosque, has been built elsewhere. I wanted to demolish it, but some people objected, saying that it is not permissible to demolish this mosque. I hope you will please inform me about this, as its location is causing us harm. May Allah preserve and protect you. Matarik Hanash Muqaddam al-Rashidi?
Answer: If this mosque has been replaced by a new mosque and there is no longer any need for it, then it is to be sold, and its price is to be spent on another mosque, in the construction of other mosques; because it is a waqf for public benefit, and it is not permissible to dispose of it except in the manner prescribed by the Shari'ah. The neighbors or those who desire to buy it should seek a ruling from the judge, the judge of the town. The judge of the town appoints someone to handle its sale. If there is no judge, then the prince, the prince of the town who heads the town and is its ruler, appoints someone if the judge is not found. If the judge is found, then the judge appoints someone to present it to the neighbors who desire it and sell it to the highest bidder. When the bid is settled, he sells it to him. This price is to be spent on other mosques, repairing mosques or constructing mosques in areas that need them, meaning: in places that need mosques. This is what is obligatory.
As for if this mosque is needed by its neighbors, because the new mosque is far from them, and its neighbors need it, then it is to be repaired by the generous, and the Muslims around it pray in it. If no one is available to repair it, its case is to be referred to the Ministry of Awqaf in the town, so that it may undertake its repair, and its abandonment may cease, and those around it may benefit from it. This is the answer to this issue. Yes.
Answer: If this mosque has been replaced by a new mosque and there is no longer any need for it, then it is to be sold, and its price is to be spent on another mosque, in the construction of other mosques; because it is a waqf for public benefit, and it is not permissible to dispose of it except in the manner prescribed by the Shari'ah. The neighbors or those who desire to buy it should seek a ruling from the judge, the judge of the town. The judge of the town appoints someone to handle its sale. If there is no judge, then the prince, the prince of the town who heads the town and is its ruler, appoints someone if the judge is not found. If the judge is found, then the judge appoints someone to present it to the neighbors who desire it and sell it to the highest bidder. When the bid is settled, he sells it to him. This price is to be spent on other mosques, repairing mosques or constructing mosques in areas that need them, meaning: in places that need mosques. This is what is obligatory.
As for if this mosque is needed by its neighbors, because the new mosque is far from them, and its neighbors need it, then it is to be repaired by the generous, and the Muslims around it pray in it. If no one is available to repair it, its case is to be referred to the Ministry of Awqaf in the town, so that it may undertake its repair, and its abandonment may cease, and those around it may benefit from it. This is the answer to this issue. Yes.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.