The salary of a mosque imam from money containing riba
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you. What is the ruling on a man who built a mosque while dealing in riba (usury or interest), and appointed an imam for the mosque and pays him a salary?
The Shaykh:
What is he saying?
The questioner:
And as for the one who built a mosque and deals in riba, and appointed an imam for the mosque and pays him a monthly salary from it, this salary…
The Shaykh:
If it is known that the money he pays the imam is from riba, then it is not permissible. Allah has cursed the one who eats riba and the one who gives it. But if it is merely a doubt, and it is not certain that it is riba, then the default is permissibility; the default is permissibility, unless it is known to be riba, in which case it is not permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
No, may Allah have mercy on them.
The Shaykh:
But the one who resolves the problem—if the mosque is in the Kingdom—the one who resolves the problem is that he applies to the Department of Mosques to register this mosque and appoint an imam for it, and they pay him a salary from the treasury. Yes.
The questioner:
I say that the money that comes from selling prayers—I am a man who knows that it is prohibited by the authorities.
The Shaykh:
Do not do this. Do not disobey the authority, and disobeying the authority in this matter is not permissible, because this is in the interest of the Muslims. It is not permissible for you to disobey the authority, and do not continue in this work. Stop this matter and do not persist in it. Yes.
May Allah reward you. What is the ruling on a man who built a mosque while dealing in riba (usury or interest), and appointed an imam for the mosque and pays him a salary?
The Shaykh:
What is he saying?
The questioner:
And as for the one who built a mosque and deals in riba, and appointed an imam for the mosque and pays him a monthly salary from it, this salary…
The Shaykh:
If it is known that the money he pays the imam is from riba, then it is not permissible. Allah has cursed the one who eats riba and the one who gives it. But if it is merely a doubt, and it is not certain that it is riba, then the default is permissibility; the default is permissibility, unless it is known to be riba, in which case it is not permissible. Yes.
The questioner:
No, may Allah have mercy on them.
The Shaykh:
But the one who resolves the problem—if the mosque is in the Kingdom—the one who resolves the problem is that he applies to the Department of Mosques to register this mosque and appoint an imam for it, and they pay him a salary from the treasury. Yes.
The questioner:
I say that the money that comes from selling prayers—I am a man who knows that it is prohibited by the authorities.
The Shaykh:
Do not do this. Do not disobey the authority, and disobeying the authority in this matter is not permissible, because this is in the interest of the Muslims. It is not permissible for you to disobey the authority, and do not continue in this work. Stop this matter and do not persist in it. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 06 من 15 / شرح أصول الإيمان / طعم الإيمان/ صالح الفوزان / العقيدة/ كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:17:10)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.