Q.| Do the rules pertaining to sanctified grounds apply to a mosque’s yard if we cannot know whether the yard was included in the original dedication (waqf) of the mosque grounds? Also, is it permissible to set up a store in this canonically dubious yard provided that the revenue is used exclusively for the benefit of the mosque?

A.| If the sanctification of the yard cannot be ascertained with recourse to canonically prescribed methods, it is not subject to the rules pertinent to a mosque’s sanctified grounds, and as such people who are in the ritually impure states of janābah^[1] and ḥayḍ (menstruation) are permitted to enter the yard in question. Yet, it is impermissible to use the yard in question, in spite of its canonically dubious state, for commercial purposes.

[1] Janābah is the state of ritual impurity resulting from sex or discharge of manī.