Question 443
Is it permitted to announce and call the people to Masjid for Iftar in it ?
Answer :
There is no need for this. But, if some food for Iftar is brought to masjid and the people eat in the masjid (without prior announcement) then there is no problem.
As for bringing the food to masjid and giving to the people, the companions used to bring food to masjid and they used to tie bunch of ripen dates in masjid and they use to eat from that. So there is no problem in bringing food to masjid and whoever wishes to eat, may eat from it.
It came in the narration of Auf bin Malik (radhiallahu anhu) that the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) entered upon us in the masjid and with him was a stick and a person have hanged a bunch of dates which were dried then the he (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) hit that dates with the stick and said, If the one who has given this as charity wish, he can give more better charity. [Abu Dawood, 1608, Shaykh Al Albani graded it as Hasan]
As for calling people to masjid for food or for iftar, then we don’t know any action from salaf for that.
And there is no problem in bringing food to masjid for needy people in it whether it is for iftar or other than that. People of ‘Suffa’ used to be in the masjid and someone used to bring food for them and they used to eat in masjid.
As for eating in masjid people have differed in it. In this, there is indication that the companions did not used to call people to the masjid willingly. The correct opinion in this is, it is permitted to eat in the masjid, if they safeguard the cleanliness of the masjid. But, if they cause the masjid to become dirty then it is not permitted. And now a days people become lenient in safeguarding the cleanliness of masjid, so it is better not to eat in the masjid in this case and they eat outside the masjid.
Answered by : Shaykh Abu Bilal Al Hadhrami
Translated the summary of the answer by : AbdunNoor Al Hindi