What is the ruling on a Muslim praying in a room containing crosses, and is it permissible to remove crosses hung in the family home for the purpose of prayer, knowing that the non-Muslim mother would be bothered by that, especially since she accepts the presence of Qur’anic verses in Muslim homes without their removal?

Prayer in a place containing crosses or images of living beings is disliked (makrooh), due to the resemblance to worshippers of the cross, and because it may distract the worshipper. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, disliked praying in a place with images.

However, if there is difficulty with the mother in removing the cross, it is sufficient to cover it during prayer. Some jurists are of the opinion that covered images and crosses do not affect the dislike of prayer.

If the difficulty persists, there is no harm in praying in a place containing a cross, especially if this aims at showing kindness to the mother and maintaining love between you. Necessity permits performing a disliked act. Some scholars have gone so far as to permit prayer in a church if it is clean, despite the presence of images and crosses therein, and the mother's room is more deserving of permissibility than a church.

The cross should not be removed by force, as that constitutes disposing of others' property without permission, which could lead to harm such as angering the mother. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, prayed near the Kaaba while idols were around it before the Hijra, and he did not break them, because the matter was not under his authority.