Ruling on taking housing allowance from mosque construction funds
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : May Allah reward you. The questioner, may Allah bless you, please go ahead. I am the imam of a mosque in al-Wuhdan, and this mosque, my lord, has no residence. The committee is currently collecting money to build a second floor for the mosque, and from this money they want to give me a housing allowance so that I can get married. They want to rent me a house and give me from this money that they are collecting for the mosque, which is old, without giving me a sum from it for housing. For example, if I need fifty or forty pounds to pay for housing, and I am very much in need, meaning I am about to get married, and I cannot afford to rent a house, so they want to give me from the endowment money they are collecting for the mosque so that I can get married. I do not know, may Allah reward you, I commend you.
The Shaykh : First, the mosque is under the control of the Waqf (endowment) authority.
The questioner : Yes, the mosque is under the control of the Waqf authority and has no residence.
The Shaykh : Be patient, and are you receiving a salary from the Waqf?
The questioner : Yes, I am receiving a salary from the Waqf.
The Shaykh : And this committee wants to collect money to give it to you as a housing allowance.
The questioner : No, the committee is collecting to build a second floor and build a residence for the imam, but this takes time, so I want to get married and there is no residence and I am in need, so they want to give me from the money they are collecting for the mosque, a housing allowance.
The Shaykh : No, it is not permissible.
The questioner : Is there no way? No.
The Shaykh : If it is absolutely necessary and you are poor, they can collect a housing allowance for you, but not from the money they intend to use to build the mosque.
The questioner : Yes, meaning they say that this is for the imam.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : This is on the condition that you are poor.
The questioner : Yes, I am in need, truly.
The Shaykh : I did not ask you if you are in need or not? They are learning. I did not ask you if you are in need or not? I said, if you are poor, tell me I am poor, and I will give you the answer as I told you. But if you are rich, I am poor, why are you saying I am in need? It is enough for you to be poor, and charity is permissible for you. If they collect for you with the intention that this is your money as a housing allowance, but the money they collect for building above the mosque is to be spent on the mosque only.
The questioner : Yes, may Allah reward you with good, my lord.
The Shaykh : And you, my brother, welcome, peace be upon you. Yes.
The questioner : Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace.
The questioner : Shaykh Rashid?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : How are you, Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, I am well.
The questioner : I will connect you with the rest, Salam from Jiraji.
The Shaykh : You are welcome.
The Shaykh : First, the mosque is under the control of the Waqf (endowment) authority.
The questioner : Yes, the mosque is under the control of the Waqf authority and has no residence.
The Shaykh : Be patient, and are you receiving a salary from the Waqf?
The questioner : Yes, I am receiving a salary from the Waqf.
The Shaykh : And this committee wants to collect money to give it to you as a housing allowance.
The questioner : No, the committee is collecting to build a second floor and build a residence for the imam, but this takes time, so I want to get married and there is no residence and I am in need, so they want to give me from the money they are collecting for the mosque, a housing allowance.
The Shaykh : No, it is not permissible.
The questioner : Is there no way? No.
The Shaykh : If it is absolutely necessary and you are poor, they can collect a housing allowance for you, but not from the money they intend to use to build the mosque.
The questioner : Yes, meaning they say that this is for the imam.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : This is on the condition that you are poor.
The questioner : Yes, I am in need, truly.
The Shaykh : I did not ask you if you are in need or not? They are learning. I did not ask you if you are in need or not? I said, if you are poor, tell me I am poor, and I will give you the answer as I told you. But if you are rich, I am poor, why are you saying I am in need? It is enough for you to be poor, and charity is permissible for you. If they collect for you with the intention that this is your money as a housing allowance, but the money they collect for building above the mosque is to be spent on the mosque only.
The questioner : Yes, may Allah reward you with good, my lord.
The Shaykh : And you, my brother, welcome, peace be upon you. Yes.
The questioner : Peace be upon you.
The Shaykh : And upon you be peace.
The questioner : Shaykh Rashid?
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : How are you, Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, I am well.
The questioner : I will connect you with the rest, Salam from Jiraji.
The Shaykh : You are welcome.
Source
سلسلة الهدى والنور، المجلس 1266 — d3watuna.com (18:00)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.