Walking in shoes on an unpaved mosque courtyard

Question

The common custom in our area is this: when a mosque is built, although the boundaries of the mosque — the covered hall, the courtyard and so on — are fixed, the walls on the four sides are only with difficulty built as an enclosure, or are not built at all. In any case, as long as the ground of the courtyard remains unpaved, without a floor covering, walking on it in shoes is not regarded by common custom (ʿurf) as disrespect. This custom was followed in the courtyard of the mosque of our madrasa.

Answer

Merely the waqif’s intention and the fixing of the place for the courtyard and the covered hall do not make the rulings of a mosque applicable, because by that alone the status of a mosque is not completed; rather, when the adhan and congregational prayer (jamaʿa) begin to be held in the mosque, then its status as a mosque is completed and all the rulings apply to it.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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