Demolishing the Alamgir Eidgah to Build a School

Question

In Sholapur, near the district court, there is the Alamgir Eidgah (ground for the Eid prayer), which was built during the reign of Hazrat Alamgir ﵀. Near the Eidgah there are several places (?) where, right close by, there is the building of an English-Urdu high school. The trustees (mutawallis) of the school want to demolish the Alamgir Eidgah and construct the school building in its place. The administrators of the school are Muslims. The local Muslims are distressed by this action.

Answer

Demolishing the Eidgah and constructing the school building in its place is absolutely impermissible; it is contrary to the purpose of the waqif (endower). [ar]شرط الواقف كنص الشارع[/ar] “The stipulation of the waqif is like the text of the Lawgiver” (“al-Durr al-Mukhtar”). The administrators should be told the ruling and restrained, so that they do not do this.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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