and his prayer with two men is more meritorious than his prayer with one; the greater the number, the more beloved it is to Allah Most High.” Narrated by Abū Dāwūd and others.

This is despite his permitting another mosque to be built when the population increases, even nearby, while prohibiting the construction of a mosque intended to cause harm.

Ahmad said, as reported by Sālih:

“A mosque must not be built with the intention of harming a neighbouring mosque. But if the population increases, there is no harm in building one, even nearby.”

Thus, although he permitted another mosque to be built when the population increased, even nearby, he also permitted relocating a mosque that had become too small for its congregation to a more spacious site, because this was better and more beneficial—not out of necessity.

Another reason is that the rightly guided caliphs, ʿUmar and ʿUthmān—may Allah be pleased with them both—altered the Prophet’s Mosque, and ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb ordered the mosque of Kufa to be relocated, its original site becoming the date-sellers’ market. This was done for an overriding benefit, not because those mosques had ceased to serve their purpose: their benefit had not ceased, but remained.

Likewise, subsequent Muslim caliphs, such as al-Walīd, al-Mansūr and al-Mahdī, did the same with the two Sacred Mosques. Al-Walīd also did so with the mosque of Damascus and elsewhere, consulting the scholars and receiving their approval. Indeed, Mālik and others issued rulings permitting endowed property adjoining a mosque to be purchased and its beneficiaries compensated. They thus permitted the sale of endowed property and compensation for it for the benefit of the mosque, not for the benefit of its beneficiaries. If it were sold and compensation provided for the benefit of its beneficiaries, this would be all the more deserving of neighbourly consideration.

As for the assertion:

“If it were permissible to turn the lower part of the mosque into a drinking-water facility and shops for this