Offering Salah in prohibited places

Offering Salah in prohibited places Fatwa no. 3051 All praise is due to Allah Alone, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger, his family and Companions.After having perused the question submitted to his Eminence, the General Chairman, referred by the general manager of the administrative affairs in the Ministry of Commerce No. 1939 on 29/4/1400 A.H. which states the following: I would like to inform your Eminence that the Ministry of Commerce has finished the establishment of a Masjid (mosque) a few months ago (Part No. 6; Page No. 211) inside the building of the Ministry in Riyadh to enable the employees to perform Salah (Prayer) there. The Masjid is located on the first floor of the Ministry building and under it there are the offices of the employees and bathrooms (toilets) at the end of the Masjid. Some employees of the ministry said that performing Salah is not permissible in the part that is above the bathrooms claiming that there is a legal text stating that it is not permissible to offer Salah on the floor of the bathroom. Some people believe that this ruling also applies to the floor of the bathroom because it is a part of the building. Due to the importance of this issue, we seek the legal opinion from your Eminence. It should be mentioned here that the distance between the bathroom floor and its roof is three meters. The thickness of the cement which forms the floor is 15 cms then a layer of ceramic of 10 cms and the Masjid floor is totally furnished with thick carpets. Could you kindly tell us the legal opinion regarding this case?

The Committee gave the following answer: If the situation is as you have mentioned, then it is permissible to perform Salah on the roof of the mentioned bathroom. There is no harm - In sha'a Allah - and no reprehensibility regarding it, because the roof is not part of the bathroom in this case. This is the most preponderant view of the scholars in this issue, as Abu Muhammad Ibn Qudamah Al-Maqdisy (may Allah be merciful to him) stated in his book Al-Mughny. (Part No. 6; Page No. 212) May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.