Spending Haram Wealth on a Mosque

Question

Question (1): A paper named “Ittila‘” (“The Notice”) is published from Hyderabad, in which, under the heading “Ask and Listen”, a lengthy article has been printed that tries with all its might to prove that haram may be accepted as donations for mosques and madrasas and that there is no Sharʿi objection to this. I will send you this article in two instalments; I am sending the first instalment now, having made a brief excerpt.

Answer

(1) Using haram wealth for a mosque is not correct; rather, it is makruh tahrimi (tantamount to haram). [ar]لا بأس بنقشه خلا محرابه بجص وماء ذهب بماله الحلال[/ar] “There is no harm in decorating it — except its mihrab — with gypsum and gold water from his halal wealth” (al-Durr al-Mukhtar).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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