Question
We have 3 people who feel it is their haqq (right) to keep a spot in the 1st saff behind the imaam at a musjid here in Australia. Please assist and clarify. The muaddhin keeps a chair for an uncle who is regular and around 85 years old. Then he leaves 2 spaces open between him and that chair for another 2 healthy able adults. He says that he keeps the chair for the 85 year old out of respect and the other 2 he keeps it because if he doesn't then they scream at him. The problem is that no other musalees can take these spots because if they do then these guys criticise and tell them to move. So nobody is allowed to go there and people wait till the iqamah is called and if they (i.e. those for whom the spots are reserved) don't make it for that Salaah, then only can someone else take that spot. I went in that spot a few times and they started calling me an invader. Sometimes they come early before Magrib and pull a chair to recite Qur'an and push anyone else away that went to sit there after asr. Can you please advise what to do? Should we keep quiet? Is there some proof that what they are doing is wrong? Can you send me something which i can forward to the Trustees and even the muaddhin and those 3 people to show them what they doing is wrong?
Answer
The three persons have absolutely no Haqq to reserve any spot in the Musjid. Whoever arrives first has the Shar'i right to occupy the vacant spot. It is not permissible to cordon off or reserve any spot with a chair or with a musalla, etc. for the person. The old person should sit at the end of the saff on the chair. The first right of occupation applies to all public places, not only to Musjids. The three musallis and the muath-thin are in grievous error for their haraam commission.
The Salaat of the ablebodied persons is not even valid on chairs. If they are able to perform the Acts of Salaat normally, then their Salaat on chairs is not valid. They should make qadha of all the Fardh and Witr Salaat which they had performed while sitting on chairs.
It is also an inconvenience and a disturbance to have the chairs in the middle of the saff. Respect for the musalli does not justify a corrupt practice and violation of the Shariah. The muath-thin should be advised to ignore the screams of the morons. They will soon calm down and forget about screaming when they realize that they are being ignored.
Regardless of the criticism of the ignoramuses, the Shariah should not be violated for submitting to the evil conduct of miscreants. The Musjid is Waqf. Every Muslim has the right to occupy any spot he finds and wishes to occupy. Space may not be reserved for even the Imaam nor for any Buzrug even if he is a Qutub nor for the Sultan. The three usurpers and their supporters are guilty of fisq and zulm.
The Kutub of the Shariah, explicitly state the ruling: "The first one who reaches the spot in the Musjid, has greater entitlement to it, and no one has the right to remove him from that spot." This ruling may be found in Hadith and Fiqh Kutub.
- Source
- themajlis.co.za
- Published in
- The Majlis Vol 28 No 02
- PDF page
- 15
Appears under RESERVING SPACE IN A MUSJID (approximate).