Exchanging a mosque

Question

In our village there is a place known as a mosque; in the village land-records clerk’s papers it is recorded as a mosque. The place is in ruins; as it is, we have not seen anyone praying there. Next to it a mandir (a Hindu temple) has been built in which a bell rings daily; around it are the houses of non-Muslims, while the Muslims live at some distance, and there is no other mosque here either, although there is a pressing need for a mosque. Building a mosque on this site carries the fear of strife.

Answer

Do not, on your own initiative, enter into a transaction of exchanging or selling the land. If, however, they will not relinquish that land and give you suitable land elsewhere, or give its price, then accept it out of necessity and build a mosque in the other place.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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