musjid

Building an astro turf field on musjid premises

Q: A certain musjid has decided with the approval of a Mufti to build an astro turf soccer field on the musjid premises, whilst the premises is waqf. The project is spearheaded by the main Imaam and a collection drive is on for the funds of approximately R450 000. The organizers feel that they will attract people to the musjid and save them from the evils out there. The usual suspects that are being followed are the Ulemaa and community in a nearby town (apparently the nearby town has a similar facility in their muslim school yard). This astro turf will apparently be open to females asking them to adhere to purdah whilst they make use of the facility. The project seems rushed to beat anyone putting a stop to it.

1) Can such a project be done on waqf land?

2) Can females play sport in the musjid yard?

3) Should the organizers lease the land and pay a fee to the musjid?

Bringing minor children to the Musjid

Q: With the steady and frequent flow of people coming for Umrah and Ziyaarah, on account of general affluence, we notice that huge crowds are now coming to Makkah and Madinah. While it is applaudable to perform umrah and visit the haramain in this manner, it has unfortunately brought certain problems in its wake. Both the harams are becoming centres of entertainment in which small children are playing, making noise and running around. This problem has reached the point where even the Imaams, Imaam Subail in the past and Imaam Sudais, have complained on account of the small children spoiling the ambiance of the haram.

Is there any guidance in the Shari’ah as to how we should deal with this situation? Many a time, it is noticed that small children are running around, shouting, playing, etc, both at salaah times and even out of salaah times. On account of this, people performing their rituals and engaging in ibaadaat are disturbed.

In this era, it is a norm for every type of information to be available to every person. Each person can search the internet and within seconds, they have loads of information at their fingertips. Hence, every person, whether he is educated or uneducated, whether he understands Deen or not and whether he has taqwa or not, feels that he can directly deduce any mas’ala from any Hadith. Thus, the Hadith which mentions that Hazrat Hasan and Hazrat Husain (Radhiyallahu Anhuma) were present in the Musjid during their childhood, or that Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) was carrying his grandchild, Hazrat Umaamah (Radhiyallahu Anha), during salaah while she was an infant, is often quoted in support of minor children coming to the Musjid. Can you provide some guidance in this issue?