Can a Masjid Prayer Area Be Used for a Condolence (Taziyat)? – Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
Can the prayer area of a masjid be used for a grieving family to receive condolences? Many mosques offer this service, and I would like to know if it is appropriate for them to do so.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
It is disliked to use the masjid to sit for condolence. However, the non-masjid areas, like the rooms within the masjid or a room in a community center, can be used.
In today’s busy world, people have adopted new customs to help them organize their affairs. One such custom is organizing a place of condolence, for example, a room in a community center or a room within a masjid. The bereaved family can gather in one place where family members, relatives, and friends can come and give their condolences without having to visit each family member individually. This saves people from going to different houses or going to places to look for family members. As times have changed, people live further apart and it has become difficult to visit each family member separately.
There is a fiqh principle; Customs and societal norms are recognized in Islamic law. [Ibn Nujaym, al-Ashbah wa’l Nadha’ir; Majallat al-Ahkam al-‘Adliyya]
Mourning
It is disliked to sit in the masjid during a calamity (musiba). There is a concession for men in other than a masjid for three days, and not beyond. [Bolawi, Ahkam al-Jana’iz; ’Ala’uddin ‘Ibn ’Abidin, Al-Hadiyya al-’Ala’iyya]
Mourning is for three days after demise. However, neighbors can send food on the day of the burial, as the family will be busy with burial arrangements. [Ibn ’Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
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I pray this helps answer your question.
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied within UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.
He started his early education in UK. He went onto complete hifz of Qur’an in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in UK where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then travelled to Karachi, Pakistan.
He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.
He currently resides in UK with his wife. His personal interest is love of books and gardening.
