Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa BarakatuhuAll Praise be to Allah who is the Lord of the Worlds, and may Endless Blessings be showered upon His Most Beloved, and Final Messenger of Islam, Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam Jazak'allah for your question. The following ahadith are *proof of why it is permissible to donate money to a mosque.
In the Tirmidhi Shareef; There is a hadith under the chapter 'The Excellence of building a Mosque' - in which it is narrated by Hadrat Uthman Ibn Affan
Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu who states that the Beloved Messenger of Allah
Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam said :
''Whosoever builds a mosque for the sake of Allah the Almighty, Allah the Almighty will make a house for him, similar to it, in Paradise.''There have been many narrators of this hadith, for example Hadrats' Abu Bakr, Umar, 'Ali, Abd'allah ibn Amr, Anas, Ibn 'Abbas, 'A'isha, Umm-e-Habibah and Abu Dhar,
Allah Have Mercy on them, ... they have all narrated this.
*This hadith clearly proves that it is permissible to donate to make a mosque. One of the important requirements in the construction is finance. However only finance which is halal, and earned in a halal way is deemed appropiate. Similarly, the purchasing of land, the construction work, employment of engineers, builders, architects, plumbers, electricians, roofers and the general maintenance all require donations, which can only be used from the general muslims who have earned it in a halal way.
Another hadith states:
Hadrat Abd'allah Khawlani
Radi Allahu anhu states that when Hadrat Uthman al Ghani
Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu constructed Masjid al Nabwi, he heard the people gossiping about it. He turned to them and said: ''You have taken much time, yet i heard the Beloved Messenger of Allah
Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam say'' ...
''Whoever makes a Mosque for the pleasure of Allah the Almighty, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala will make a house for him in Jannat.''[Muslim Shareef : Under 'the Excellence of making a mosque and inclining people to do so']
This hadith also proves that despite various people criticising,
he who builds, or helps to build a mosque, they nevertheless can come to a solution whether to build or help build a mosque, although Allah the Almighty has promised them, a similar house, or its like, in paradise.Imam Bukhari
Radi Allahu anhu has also entitled a chapter in his famous Bukhari Shareef with:
'Bab-ut-Ta'awuni Fi Bina'il Masjidi' : The chapter relating to helping one in building a mosque. Here the following verse from the Qur'an al kareem has been stated :
'ma kanal mushrikina ay ya'muru masajid Allahi'
'It is not the duty of the polythiests to engage the mosques'
The circumstances for the revelation was when Hadrat 'Abbas
Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu was captured during the Battle of Badr, and Hadrat Ali
Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu penalised him for misbelief and polythiesm. Hadrat Abbas
Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu stated that he kept the Masjid-e-Haram engaged, and that he gave the Hajjis water to drink.
The verse clearly states that there is no recompense, or reward for such actions, in the presence of polythiesm and misbelief, and that such people do not own the right of engaging and building mosques. That this is the action of a muslim, and for he, there is recompense and reward.
Imam Bukhari
Radi Allahu anhu has made it clear, that it is only the muslims who have the original right of building and engaging mosques, and that the muslims should fulfil this duty of theirs as best as they possibly can.
Then Imam Bukhari
Radi Allahu anhu mentions the hadith of Hadrat Ikrama
Radi Allahu anhu as he further states:
'At the time of building the mosque, we would collect a brick each and Hadrat 'Ammar two bricks at atime when the Most Beloved Messenger of Allah
Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam saw him, he began to clear the dust from him, and said 'Lo! The rebels will martyr 'Ammar, he will call them to Paradise, and they will call him to Hell.'
This hadith has also been mentioned in
Kitab al-Jihad, and is a base for the following issue: 'To help build a mosque is a great action.'
The above verses and hadith prove that it is permissible to donate money to a mosque as it is regarded as financial help, as well as physical help. These days it is not enough to say 'there is no hadith which states you cannot give money to a mosque, so i wont.' Rather the scholars of Islam throughout centuries have relied on such ahadith so that the people may have an opportunity to gain reward in building mosques. Methods of building have been mentioned above, and they all require halal finance, without the aid of the muslims we would never have had the blessings of having mosques in areas populated by muslims.
Wallahu A'lamu BiththawaabM. Waseem Ashrafi