and there is no harm in it.”
He said: “The apparent meaning of this is that he permitted shops and a drinking-water facility to be established beneath the mosque.”
He said: “This must be understood as applying where a need arose for this because it would benefit the mosque.”
He said: “Our shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh—that is, Ibn Hāmid—used to prohibit this. He interpreted the case as concerning a disagreement at the outset of the mosque’s construction, before it was made an endowment.”
He said: “Our principles do not preclude permitting this when it serves a beneficial purpose, since we permit selling the mosque and relocating it elsewhere.”
He said: “Ahmad also said, as reported by Bakr ibn Muhammad, concerning a mosque that was not secure against dogs and other animals and had a minaret: he permitted the minaret to be dismantled and its materials used to build the mosque’s wall, because this served a beneficial purpose.”
Ibn ʿAqīl inclined towards Ibn Hāmid’s view in al-Fusūl, saying: “This must be understood as applying where a need arose for it. Just as, in his view, altering and relocating a mosque was permissible only when needed, this unqualified statement must be understood in that light, not as applying to an already established mosque.”
He said: “The more fitting interpretation is that this concerns a mosque whose construction is just beginning. On this interpretation, they disagreed over how it should be built. Once it has become a mosque, however, it may neither be sold nor have a drinking-water facility established beneath it.”
Abū Muhammad likewise preferred Ibn Hāmid’s view, saying: “It is more correct and more appropriate, even though it runs contrary to the apparent meaning.”
He said: “A mosque may not be relocated or replaced, nor may its courtyard be sold and converted into a drinking-water facility and shops, unless it can no longer be used. The need for a drinking-water facility and shops does not render the mosque unusable, so it may not be diverted to that purpose.”
He said: “If it were permissible to turn