What is obligatory upon the one who took from the donation funds for building a mosque and then spent half of it, and he is among the poor?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: He took a sum of money on the basis that he would build a mosque with it, then he needed this amount due to circumstances that befall him, so he spent half of this amount. What is obligatory upon him, and he is among the poor? Is it obligatory upon him to return this money?
The Shaykh:
He took money.
The questioner:
Yes, to build a mosque.
The Shaykh:
He took money from people to build a mosque with it. This is a trust in his possession. It is not permissible for him to take anything from it; rather, it is obligatory upon him to spend it on what it was designated for, and it is not permissible for him to take anything from it. Since this happened from him, he erred in this. He must repent, and he must pay the money back. He pays the money and builds the mosque with it.
He says: He took a sum of money on the basis that he would build a mosque with it, then he needed this amount due to circumstances that befall him, so he spent half of this amount. What is obligatory upon him, and he is among the poor? Is it obligatory upon him to return this money?
The Shaykh:
He took money.
The questioner:
Yes, to build a mosque.
The Shaykh:
He took money from people to build a mosque with it. This is a trust in his possession. It is not permissible for him to take anything from it; rather, it is obligatory upon him to spend it on what it was designated for, and it is not permissible for him to take anything from it. Since this happened from him, he erred in this. He must repent, and he must pay the money back. He pays the money and builds the mosque with it.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما الواجب على مَن أخذ من مال التبرعات لبناء مسجد ثم صرف نصفه وهو من الفقراء؟ #فتاوى الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.