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Fatwa CenterIn their Masjid, a rich man reserves a place and prayer is delayed until his arrival
Question
Assalamalaikum wr wb should we pray in a masjid where a "rich guy" occupies a place and tells the imams and the masjid workers to keep a place reserved for him in the first row.. The "rich guy" himself is the one who built the masjid i believe. The staff in the masjid also at times wait for the "rich guy" to come to the masjid and then give the aqamah. Also no one else is allowed to stand in the place of the rich guy and pray and the masjid staff just move the people away from that place please advice
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
There is nothing wrong with performing prayer in the Masjid in which a place is reserved for a certain person or where prayer is delayed for that person or for someone else, as long as the delay does not last until the prescribed time of prayer elapses.
We have pointed out in previous Fataawa that the Masjids are the Houses of Allaah, The Almighty, and do not belong to certain people and not others. Also, the people of the Masjid can fix a time for starting the congregational prayer on which they agree and which suits their circumstances. If they disagree, then the one to settle that disagreement is the official authority or the administration of the Masjid. For more benefit, kindly refer to Fatwa 131995.
As for reserving a place in the Masjid for oneself or for someone else, the Muslim scholars hold different opinions regarding it; some of them have held it to be permissible while others have expressed disapproval. Shaafi‘i and Hanbali scholars view that it is permissible. Imaam An-Nawawi 
said in Al-Majmoo‘: “Ash-Shaafi‘i and our companions (i.e. the adherents of the Saafi'i School) said, ‘it is permissible for someone to send another to reserve a place for him to sit.’” Al-Buhooti Al-Hanbali said in Kash-shaaf Al-Qinaa‘: “If one finds a prayer rug spread on the ground (in the mosque), he does not have the right to remove it because it is like one's agent. This is also a form of trespassing, disposing of one’s property without his permission which leads to disputes.”
On the other hand, Maaliki scholars and Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah expressed disapproval of that. Shaykh ‘Ulaysh said in Minah Al-Jaleel: “He (Ibn Al-Haajj) stated in Al-Madkhal that one who puts his rug of prayer to reserve a place in the Masjid does not deserve that place for himself, rather he has usurped that place.” Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said in Al-Fataawa Al-Kubra: “No one has the right to put anything to reserve a place for himself in his absence and obstruct others from it. This is a form of usurping that place and preventing Muslims from performing prayer, which Allaah, The Almighty, commanded them to perform.”
In brief, all the aforementioned does not prevent performing prayer in the Masjid and it is not an excuse for not performing prayer in congregation in the Masjid.
Allaah Knows best.
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