Sale and Purchase in the Mosque: Its Ruling and Applications

Abstract

This study addresses the ruling on sale and purchase in the mosque and its applications through a comparative jurisprudential study that combines theoretical foundation with application to branches and practical cases. The study begins by explaining the reality of the mosque and the Sharīʿah objectives of its construction, and the reality of sale and its pillars, thus laying the groundwork for the study. It also addresses the ruling on sale and purchase in the mosque by examining the Sharīʿah evidences in the Glorious Qur’an and the Prophetic Sunnah, and the aspects of their indications. It presents the schools of jurisprudence and their opinions, reveals their disagreement on the ruling of the issue, then balances between their statements and evidences, and concludes by favoring the opinion that sale and purchase in the mosque is prohibited. The study then moves to studying a number of branches and applications, both old and contemporary. It examines the effect of the prohibition on the validity of the contract, as well as the extent to which the ruling applies to all other contracts of exchange and commercial transactions, the ruling on brokerage, bargaining, and promising to sell, the ruling on sale in the mosque’s premises and facilities, the investment facilities and structures located above or below the mosque, electronic sale and concluding contracts by phone, the sale of copies of the Qur’an and religious books, holding auctions and commercial activities of a charitable nature, and commercial advertisements inside the mosque. The study concludes that sale in the mosque is valid but sinful, and that the ruling is not limited to the traditional form of sale, but extends to all exchanges and commercial transactions in which the meanings of sale are realized, and also includes whatever is a direct means to trading. Thus, the study combines the precise formulation and foundation of the jurisprudential ruling, balancing between the schools of jurisprudence, studying the effect of the prohibition on the contract, and applying the ruling to old and contemporary branches and applications, thereby contributing to providing an integrated jurisprudential treatment of an issue related to the sanctity of the mosque on one hand, and financial transactions on the other.