QUESTION:
What do the scholars of the Dīn and muftīs of the Sacred Law state regarding the following issue: Is it permissible to make a snooker or football club in a Masjid so that youngsters nowadays wholeheartedly feel like they want to come to the Masjid and can play a little after Salāh. There are many Masjids in the country which have already done this; if it is impermissible, then please can you also mention any permissible case for this?
Questioner: Amir from England
ANSWER:
بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب
To offer snooker or football facilities in a Masjid is impermissible and is the changing of waqf [endowment i.e. what it was originally made for], as Masjids were created for the worship of the Lord Almighty, Dhikr and recitation of the Holy Qur’ān, not for play and amusement, just as it has been mentioned in Hadīth that the Noble Messenger ﷺ stated,
“إِنَّمَا بُنِيَ هَذَا الْبَيْتُ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةِ”
“This House (Masjid) has only been made for the Dhikr of Allāh and Salāh.”
[Musnad Imām Ahmad Bin Hambal, no 10533]
It is also stated in a Blessed Hadīth in Muslim Sharīf that the Noble Prophet ﷺ stated,
“إِنَّمَا بُنِيَتِ الْمَسَاجِدُ لِمَا بُنِيَتْ لَهُ”
“Masjids have only been made for what they were [originally] made for.”
[al-Sahīh al-Muslim, vol 1, pg 201, Hadīth no 569]
To make any part of the Masjid into games facilities is the changing of waqf which is impermissible and harām [unlawful], just as it is stated in Fatāwā Hindiyyah,
“وَلَا يَجُوزُ تَغْيِيرُ الْوَقْفِ عَنْ هَيْئَتِهِ فَلَا يَجْعَلُ الدَّارَ بُسْتَانًا وَلَا الْخَانَ حَمَّامًا وَلَا الرِّبَاطَ دُكَّانًا”
“It is impermissible to change something from its [original] state which had been made waqf, thus it is not permissible to make a house into a garden, a hotel into a washroom/bathing area nor a lodging area into a shop.”
[Fatāwā Hindiyyah, vol 2, ch 14, pg 490]
The committees who have done so are perpetrators of an impermissible action; it is wājib upon them to finish these snooker facilities, etc. straight away and give the amount of money which was spent from the Masjid on the snooker facilities, etc back to the Masjid out of their own pockets as compensation.
Nevertheless, if one is to offer football facilities for exercise purposes, etc. then one should make a donation appeal, asking for contributions for this specific purpose, and it can be made in a place nearby the Masjid: there is nothing wrong with this, so long as it does not conflict with any other prohibited matter of Sharī’ah.
واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری
Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadri
Translated by Haider Ali
Read the original Urdu answer here: [Q-ID0548] Is it permissible to have a games room in the Masjid to play snooker, football etc?
