Abandoning Part of a Mosque

Question

We have a mosque here lying right alongside the P.W. Road. When the old mosque was demolished and rebuilt, leaving 2 1/8 (?) cubits, it was extended two and a half cubits towards the north. The new managers (?) say that since we are building a new mosque, let us shift it somewhat to the north so that the traffic of cars, motor vehicles, goods and the like does not suffer hard knocks and the like. The second reason they give is that three feet of land from the road belong to the Governor and ought to be left.

Answer

A place that has become a mosque is a mosque forever; there is no right to abandon it and separate it from the mosque. However, there is no harm if the roofed part partly comes into the courtyard, or the reverse — but it must remain within the mosque itself, not go outside it, nor be put to any other use.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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