Shops Below, a Mosque Above

Question

On a plot of land with an area of seven or seven and a quarter “paisa” (here a local unit of land area), Zayd builds five or six shops and erects a mosque on the upper floor. He collects the rent from the lower shops and spends it on himself, giving nothing to the mosque, saying: “I designated the upper floor as the mosque, not the ground,” — although the ground is the making of the Generous Lord; he takes no responsibility for meeting the mosque’s expenses.

Answer

In the case asked about, this mosque has not become a mosque in the Shar‘i sense; praying in it will not earn the reward of praying in a mosque. If this land was already waqf for a mosque and was not Zayd’s property, then it is in no way permissible for Zayd to use the rent of these shops and the like for his own purposes — spending it on the mosque is wajib, and these shops…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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