The mosques are places where the Muslims gather for the purpose of worshipping, obeying and remembering their Lord. Hence Allah, may He be Exalted, has enjoined us to venerate and honour them, as He says:
{… in houses [mosques] which Allah has ordained to be built so that His name may be remembered therein. In them His name is glorified morning and afternoon,
by men who are not distracted by buying or selling from the remembrance of Allah, or from establishing prayer or giving zakat. They fear a day when hearts will quiver and eyes will stare fixedly} [An-Noor 24:36-37].
The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “rather they [mosques] are for the remembrance of Allah, may He be Glorified and Exalted, and prayer, and reading Quran.” Narrated by Muslim (285).
To highlight the importance of respecting the mosques, Allah, may He be Exalted, has ordained specific rules concerning them, and He has forbidden things that should not be done in the mosques. They include the following:
1.. Making announcements regarding lost property, which means raising one’s voice in asking about the lost item. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever hears a man making a lost property announcement in the mosque, let him say: May Allah not restore it to you, for the mosques were not built for this purpose.” Narrated by Muslim (568).
What is meant here by making an announcement is raising the voice.
End quote from Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah by Mughaltay (1/1279).
But if he asks about the matter without raising his voice, such as if he asks the people around him or he asks the imam in a quiet voice, then there is nothing wrong with that.
Al-Baji said in Al-Muntaqa Sharh al-Muwatta’ (1/3122): Malik said regarding the one who raises his voice to ask about a lost item in the mosque: He should not stand up and raise his voice. As for the one who asks the people sitting near him, without raising his voice, there is nothing wrong with that.
The reason for that is that raising the voice is not allowed in the mosques, for the reasons we have mentioned above. As for asking the person sitting next to him, that comes under the same heading as conversing or chatting, which is not disallowed, so long as the conversation does not become noisy or clamorous, or go on for too long. End quote.
See also the answer to question no. 138263.
An example of that is the prohibition on raising the voice to describe a lost item, such as if a man finds something in the mosque, so he raises his voice and shouts: I have found such and such, or: Who has lost such and such?
`Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said: If you find a lost item, then announce it at the door of the mosque for three days, then if someone comes to you who is able to describe it [then give it to him], otherwise it is up to you what you do with it. Narrated by `Abd ar-Razzaq (18620).
Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: Can lost items be announced in the mosque? He said: I do not like voices to be raised in the mosques; rather `Umar instructed that such announcements should be made at the door of the mosque. But if he walks about the among the study circles in the mosque, telling them about it without raising his voice, I do not see anything wrong with that.
End quote from At-Taj wal-Iklil (8/42).
See also the answer to question no. 5049.
2.. Buying and selling in the mosque
The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “If you see someone buying or selling in the mosque, then say: ‘May Allah not make your trade profitable!’” Narrated by at-Tirmidhi (1321); classed as authentic by al-Albani.
3.. Competing in reciting poetry. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade competing in reciting poetry in the mosque. Narrated by an-Nasa’i (415); classed as sound (hasan) by al-Albani.
What is meant is when one man composes a line of verse and another responds to him, also in verse. This is a scenario which may give the impression that the mosque has been turned into a literary society, where poetry takes the place of dhikr and Quran.
`Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) constructed a yard outside the mosque which was called al-Butayha’, and he said: Whoever wants to engage in clamorous talk or recite poetry or raise his voice, let him go out to this public space. Narrated by Malik in Al-Muwatta’ (93).
It says in Fat-h al-Bari by Ibn Rajab (3/334): Ibn `Abd al-Barr said: Poetry may be recited in the mosque occasionally, but that should not be done on a regular basis. End quote. What is meant is that it is something that may be done every now and then, but should not be taken as a regular practice.
The prohibition is emphasized if the poetry speaks of the topics that poets love and specialise in, such as romantic love, or praising and lampooning people.
As for reciting permissible types of poetry in the mosque, there is nothing wrong with that.
Ibn Rajab said in Fat-h al-Bari (3/335): The majority of scholars are of the view that it is allowed to recite permissible types of poetry in the mosques. End quote.
If the poetry contains inspiring and motivational meanings, such as defending Islam, highlighting its beauties and calling people to it, or if it is an academic text presented in the form of poetry, and the like, then this is something that is allowed.
Hassan ibn Thabit, the Prophet’s poet, said to `Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them both), when he forbade him to recite poetry in the mosque: I used to recite poetry here (in the mosque) when there was one present who was better than you (meaning the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)). Narrated by al-Bukhari (3212).
An-Nawawi said in Al-Majmu` (1/177): There is nothing wrong with reciting poetry in the mosque if it is praising the Prophet or Islam, or if it is an aphorism, or it speaks of noble characteristics or asceticism and other good things. As for poetry that contains blameworthy content, such as lampooning a Muslim, or describing alcohol or speaking of women or beardless youths, or praising an evildoer, or types of boasting that are not allowed, and so on, then it is prohibited. End quote.
4.. Talking about worldly matters in the sense that they become the main topic, in addition to what accompanies that of disturbing others, talking in a clamorous manner and raising voices, so that the mosque becomes like a place for discussing worldly matters, because the mosques were not built for that purpose.
Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) included in his Sahih a chapter entitled “Raising one’s voice in the mosque,” in which he narrated (470) with his isnad from As-Sa’ib ibn Yazid, who said: I was standing in the mosque when a man threw a stone in my direction [to get my attention]. I looked and saw that it was `Umar ibn al-Khattab. He said: Go and bring these two men to me. So I brought them to him, and he said: Who are you? – or: Where are you from? – They said: From at-Ta’if. He said: If you were local people, I would have punished you for raising your voices in the mosque of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
Ibn Muflih said in Al-Adab ash-Shar`iyyah (3/382): It is prescribed to protect the mosque from clamour and a great deal of idle talk, and from talking in raised voices about inappropriate matters. End quote. But if talk about worldly matters is not the main topic of those who are chatting in the mosque, and it does not distract those who are praying and remembering Allah, and there is no clamour and raised voices, then there is nothing wrong with it, as we see in the hadith of Jabir ibn Samurah, which says that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) would not get up from the place in which he had prayed Fajr until the sun had risen, and when the sun had risen he would get up. They [his Companions] used to chat and talk about matters of the Jahiliyyah, and they would laugh but he smiled. Narrated by Muslim (670).
An-Nawawi said in Al-Majmu` (2/177): It is allowed to talk about permissible things in the mosque, and to talk about worldly matters and other permissible things, even if there is some laughter and the like, so long as the topics are permissible, because of the hadith of Jabir ibn Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him). End quote.
5.. Raising the voice in the mosque in general, even if that is when reciting Quran or dhikr, if it disturbs others who are present in the mosque, except for cases in which Islam allows raising the voice, such as when giving the adhan, in prayers in which recitation is to be done out loud, when giving the khutbah, and so on.
In the hadith it says: “and beware of the tumult of the marketplace.” Narrated by Muslim (432).
An-Nawawi said in Sharh Sahih Muslim (4/156): That is, beware of its disputes, arguments, raised voices, and the clamour and troubles that are to be found there. End quote.
It was narrated that Abu Sa`id said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) observed i`tikaf in the mosque, and he heard them reciting out loud, so he lifted the curtain and said: “Indeed each of you is conversing with his Lord, so do not disturb one another and do not raise your voices over one another when reciting – or he said: when praying.” Narrated by Abu Dawud (1332); classed as authentic by al-Bukhari.
Al-Nawawi said in Al-Majmu` (2/175): It is disliked to argue and raise voices in the mosque. End quote.
Secondly:
What those young men did of playing with spears in the presence of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was not acrobatics as the questioner said; rather it was war games.
In Sahih al-Bukhari (5190) it is narrated that `A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Ethiopians were playing with their spears.
Ibn Hajar said in Fat-h al-Bari (2/445): This is quoted as evidence that it is permissible to play with weapons, by way of jumping around, for the purpose of training for war and encouraging people to engage in such training.
From this report the scholars derived the ruling that it is permissible to spar and train together, because that is training their hands in how to handle weapons.
In Mirqat al-Mafatih (5/2120) it says: They were allowed to do that because their playing with spears is regarded as preparation for fighting against the enemies of Allah, may He be Exalted, and by having that intention it becomes an act of worship, like training in archery. End quote.
One of the causes of misunderstanding the wording of texts is when a person understands the texts in the light of the customs and traditions with which he grew up, and not in the light of the customs and traditions of the people at the time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), who engaged in these matters and concerning whom Revelation came down.
See: Majmu` al-Fatawa by Ibn Taymiyah (7/106).
And Allah knows best.
