Building houses and shops for the mosque on vacant land

Question

Adjoining the mosque there lay a plot of vacant land on which there was a great deal of rubble. When the rubble was cleared, the walls of a house emerged. People eighty years old were asked, but the answer received was: “It has been in this state since our birth.” Now, what is the ruling on having houses or shops built for the mosque on this vacant land?

Answer

If that land is the property of the mosque, as was learned orally from the questioner, then it is correct to build a house or shop there for the needs of the mosque on the advice of people of sound judgement (ahl al-ra’y).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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