Do the rulings on mosques apply to places rented for prayers?
We have a rented place in our community used as a "musallah" where we pray the five prayers and the Friday prayer. This place is not owned by the muslim community, it is rather rented.
Does this place take the rules of the Masjid or not, like do we have to perfom Tahiyyat Al-Masjid each time we enter, can women enter the place during their period, etc?
Another thing is that we rely on selling scripts from grocery stores to the muslims in order to cover part of the rent. This is usually done in the musallah, where an announcement is made after the Jumu'ah prayer, and muslims come and buy them. What is the rule on this? Is this considered as "tijarah" (or trade) that is not allowed to be done there??
Jazakum Allah kull khair
Praise be to Allaah.
We put this question to Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-Uthaymeen, may Allaah preserve him, who replied as follows:
The rulings on mosques do not apply here. This is a musalla (prayer place), as is clear from the fact that it belongs to someone else, and the owner could sell it. It is a musalla and not a masjid (mosque), so the rulings on mosques do not apply to it.
Question:
Is it permissible to sell booklets and commercial announcements in it, or is that not appropriate in a musalla?
Answer:
I think that this is not appropriate even in a musalla, because it distracts people from remembering Allaah, and inevitably disturbs those who are praying there.
Question:
What about menstruating women going there? Is it OK?
Answer:
Yes. If they go and stay there, there is nothing wrong with that.
Question:
Is it necessary to pray Tahiyyat al-Masjid?
Answer:
No, it is not necessary, but they should pray the usual Sunnah prayer.
Question:
Do you mean the Sunnah prayers between the two times of prayer?
Answer:
Yes.
And Allaah knows best.
Wister