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Fatwa CenterMenstruating women staying in a prayer place built for teaching Quran
Question
Asalamu alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh. We have a mosque in my city wich is three floors. the first floor is for women and the 2 other floors is for men. The imam of our mosque says that the first floor was build as for qur`an school not as a mosque but we pray there when its the salat time so my question is is it allowed for us women during our period to enter that part of the mosque? Hope my question is clear thanks! JazakumuLAAH.
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
There is no doubt that it is permissible for a woman in menses to pass through the first floor – without staying in it – because if it is a mosque, it is permissible for a woman to enter it and pass through it when she needs to do so without staying in it. The evidence for this is that Maymoonah 
said: “The Prophet would put his head on the lap of any of his wives and he would recite the Quran, and any of us would spread a Khumrah (a small palm leaf mat large enough to place one’s face while in prostration) for him in the mosque while she is in menses.'' [An-nassa’i]
As regards staying in the first floor, then saying whether this is permissible or not permissible is based on its ruling whether or not it is a mosque. If we say that it is a mosque, then it is not permissible for a woman in menses to stay in it according to the view of the majority of the scholars 
as we clarified in Fataawa 82652 and 89944. But if we say that it is not a mosque, then it is permissible for her to stay in it. However, what we can say is that if the one who built the mosque, or those who are running it – like the Imaam or the mosque’s committee – allocated it for teaching the Quran and not as a place for the prayer, then it is not a mosque and a woman in menses is permitted to stay in it. In this case, it is an obligation to assign it as a school according to the condition of the one who endowed it because it is an obligation to act according to the condition of the endower and it is not permissible to do otherwise.
On the other hand, if the one who built it did not condition to make it as a school or that those who are running it did not assign it to be a school, then, in this case, it is considered a mosque and it is not permissible for a woman in menses or any woman to whom the same ruling applies (like a woman in the state of major ritual impurity) to stay in it. Indeed, the jurists stated that considering a place as a mosque is confirmed by the knowledge that such a place is endowed for the prayer, or that the people regularly pray in it without anyone objecting to it, or that it is on the shape of a mosque. Therefore, the first floor is considered a mosque if the one who endowed it or those who are running it did not allocate it for another thing than a mosque.
Allaah Knows best.
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