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Text and translation
English translation
742. It was narrated that Anas
bin Mālik said: "The location where the Prophet's Mosque was built belonged to Banū Najjār. In it there were date-palm trees and graves of the idolaters. The Prophet ﷺ said to them: 'Name its price.' They said: 'We will never take any money for it.' The Prophet ﷺ built it and they were assisting him, and the Prophet ﷺ was saying: 'The real life is the life of the Hereafter so forgive the Anṣār and the Muhājirah.' Before the mosque was built, the Prophet ﷺ would perform prayer wherever he was when the time for prayer came." (Sahih)
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Commentary
It is perfectly in order to 'purchase' land for the construction of a mosque, and the landowner is allowed in Islam to charge price for the land sold to the mosque management. Similarly, there is no bar to receiving wages for services rendered for the construction, repairs and the putting in place of electric and water supply systems for the mosque.
Gifting land for the building of a mosque, rendering free various services for it and donating things of necessity to it, are acts of great virtue that may earn reward from Allāh.
It is prohibited to perform prayer in the graveyard. However, if all traces of the former graves of the past have been erased, the site shall be considered as good as any other piece of land, and there will be no bar to the construction of a mosque there.
There is no bar either on reciting or on listening to the verses of poetry whose contents are not against the teaching of Shari'ah. Use of musical instruments as accompaniment thereto is, however, prohibited in Islam.
In places where there is no mosque in the neighborhood, prayer can be performed on any appropriate piece of land.
