3] Ruling on offering Jumu‘ah prayer in a church where there are images or statues

''Friday Prayers'' :-:->
3]
I am a Junior doctor working in UK. We muslimdoctors are usually at
work during Juma prayer time. Hence often it UK doctors at work offer
Juma prayer in small rooms which are either Multifaith rooms(where
people from all faith can pray, ofter idols are kept in these rooms
which are covered during Juma prayer) or in dedicated muslim prayer
rooms. In my hospital there is a dedicated muslim prayer room where we
offer prayer regularly at least for day time prayers, but still as
this room is small, we offer Juma on the side in the church to be able
toaccomodate the large no of doctros attending Jumaprayer. My question
is, is Juma Valid in such all the above different places mentioned
above. One of my acquaintence comented that, Juma is only valid in a
place where all five daily prayers are being offered in congregation.
Praise be to Allaah.
It is permissible to pray ina church if there are no images or statues in it.
Al-Bukhaari included a chapter in his Saheeh which he entitled:
Chapteron praying in a "chapel". 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)
said: We will not enter your churches because of the images in them.
Ibn 'Abbaas would pray in a "chapel" except a "chapel"in which there
were statues. Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Chapter on
praying in "chapels"; a "chapel" is a place of worship for Christians.
The author of al-Muhkam said: The "chapel" is the cell of the monk,
or, it was said, the church of the Christians, and the latter is the
reliable view. The ruling on "chapels" also applies to churches,
synagogues, hermits' cells, temples in which there are idols, fire
temples and so on. End quote.
If there are images or statues in it, the fuqaha' differed concerning
the ruling on praying there in that case. Some of them are of the view
that it is haraam, but the majority are of the view that it is
makrooh. The reason given by those who regard it as haraam is the
general meaning of the evidence which indicates that statues and
keeping them are haraam, becausethe presence of these images prevents
the angels from entering that place.
Al-Bukhaari (3225) and Muslim (2106) narrated from Abu Talhah that the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: "The angels
do not enter a house in which there is a dog or animage."
Al-Tirmidhi (2806) and Abu Dawood (4158) narrated that Abu Hurayrah
said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) said: "Jibreel came to me and said: 'I was going to cometo you
yesterday and nothing prevented me from entering upon you in the house
where you were except that at the door of the house there was a statue
of a man, and in the house there was a curtain on which there were
images, and inthe house there was a dog. So give instructions that the
head of the statue at the door should be cut off, so that it will look
like a tree. And give instructions that the curtain should be cut up
and made into two pillows that will be placedon the ground and stepped
on. And issue instructions that the dog be put outside.'" So the
Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did
that. And the dog was a puppy belonging to al-Hasan or al-Husayn that
was under a bed, andhe gave instructions that it should be taken
outside.
This hadeeth was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani inSaheeh al-Jaami', no. 68.
Ibn Qudaamah (may Allahhave mercy on him) said: There is nothing wrong
with praying in a church that is clean. That was allowed by al-Hasan,
'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Azeez, al-Sha'bi, al-Awzaa'i, and Sa'eed ibn 'Abd
al-'Azeez. It was also narrated from 'Umar and Abu Moosa. Ibn'Abbaas
and Maalik regarded churches as makrooh because of the images. But we
know thatthe Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) prayed
at the Ka'bah when there were images in it. It is also included in the
words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him):
"Wherever you are when the time forprayer comes, pray, for it [the
earth] is a place of prayer."
End quote from al-Mughni, 1/407
Among those who were of the view that it is haraam to pray in a church
if there are imagesin it was Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah
have mercy on him). See: al-Fataawa al-Kubra, 2/59
The prohibition on praying in churches does not mean that such a
prayer is invalid; rather the prayer is valid although it involves
sin, because the reason why praying in churches is not allowed does
not have to do with the prayer; ratherit is because of the imagesin
those places, as stated above. So the reason for the prohibition is
differentfrom the prayer and othermatters pertaining to it.