When is it permissible to reserve places in lectures and study centers? Does this apply to reserving places in the mosque? Is it permissible to send someone to reserve a place long before the lesson? Is it permissible to sit in a place reserved by others?

Seating areas in lectures and similar venues, which are permissible for everyone to benefit from without distinction, are given the ruling of shared benefits or public facilities, such that no individual is singled out from another. The right of priority in these areas belongs to whoever arrives first. The jurists have agreed that public facilities are shared benefits among people, and they are equal in them. Jurists have differed on the ruling of reserving a place in the mosque with a prayer rug or similar item, as well as on the ruling of removing such a rug and sitting in its place. This difference of opinion extends to other shared benefits, but the most preferable and scrupulous approach is not to reserve. If reserving is originally permissible, then it is permissible to sit in the reserved spot, and if it is forbidden, then it is not permissible to sit there based on that reservation.