You know, what is prohibited is to make the mosques places of public announcements which have nothing to do with the mosques. That is what is discouraged. Otherwise about the stolen property, Islam has the strictest teachings you can find in any religion. In fact people are expected not to use anything they have found for years on and on, lest the owner should come one day or you discover the owners. So this is the practice and this is the very clear verdict of the holy founder of Islam that as far as the stolen property is concerned, it’s not stolen property, the word is lost property because I think she is referring it wrongly to that religion.
The lost property, number one, if something is found while you are walking in the streets, it is better to leave it there because it will be more probable for that person who has lost it to come back and visit or follow the same course and this is generally what happens. So if you take it away, even with good intentions, you are more likely to create difficulties in the way of the owner finding it back. So if something is lying somewhere for a while and nobody picks it up, then it is the duty of the law enforcing agencies or whoever is responsible for maintenance of order to pick it up and to announce it, but not in the mosque.
What is prohibited is that mosques should not be used for purposes for which mosques are not created because the holy Quran says, Innal masajid lillahi fala tadu ma’allahi ahadah The mosques are built just for the sole purpose of worship of Allah, so do not call anyone besides him. I mean, that is the inference in the end, but the first statement is generalized. That is the purpose and this is why it should not be used for other purposes except purposes connected with worship, like religious talk, like religious meetings and even religious debates. They can be held in the mosque, but no political talk, for instance, or things like that.
