Allaah The Exalted Blessed me with a piece of land and I intend to build a house on it. Which is better; to build a mosque in the building's basement or donating the money to build a mosque as an independent building? Note: I cannot afford to build a mosque on my own. May Allaah The Exalted Reward you.

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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Our opinion is that you have three choices; you may do one of them respectively:

1- If your neighborhood needs a mosque and you were able to build one to be a beacon for spreading the Sunnah of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and Islamic knowledge, whether you built it yourself or entrusted it to someone else who is known for his righteousness, integrity and commitment to the Sunnah, with building it, you should go ahead and build it.

2- If your neighborhood does not need a new mosque and you knew of people from Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jamaa‘ah who are known for their goodness and piety and are building a mosque, you can donate your money to the construction of that mosque.

3- If you cannot do either of the above, we advise you to donate your money to a trusted and reliable charity that builds mosques in Africa and Asia. The money that you will donate may be sufficient to build a mosque as an independent building. However, it should be noted that you have to make sure this charity adopts a sound Sharee‘ah-orientated approach in order to ensure that the mosque that you will build and the Da‘wah activities that will be done in it will be in accordance with what Pleases Allaah The Exalted.

Allaah Knows best.