about the ruling on teaching children the Qur'an with the salary collected by a group of people of good

The questioner: The reward.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner: Regarding teaching children the Qur'an and its sciences and memorizing it, you mentioned evidence for this matter; if you could complete it—may Allah reward you with good—the evidence? And in addition to the question about the "Association for Reviving Traditions," we intend to invite benefactors to support the salaries of Qur'an memorizers outside Kuwait, and we specify, for example: "Sponsor a memorizer or teacher of the Qur'an for the sum of twenty dinars monthly," then we invite or contact Islamic associations abroad and specify this matter to them, and they in turn contract with the memorizers or teachers; is there any disagreement in the Shari'ah regarding this matter?

The Shaykh: I do not believe there is any problem with this matter from the Shari'ah perspective, even though this obligation is among the obligations of the state, but—unfortunately—today's Islamic states, or to use a perhaps more precise phrase: most Islamic states, do not give this aspect the attention it deserves. So if some individuals among the Muslims undertake this, it is a collective obligation that they discharge from the necks of the Ummah, so they are thanked for it and they have the greatest reward with Allah—Blessed and Exalted is He.
And the group?

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Good?
So I say: the undertaking of this work by some individuals among the Muslims is a noble deed by which they discharge an obligation from the state, and collecting donations in this regard is in the category of His saying—Exalted is He: , but the reality that should be dwelt upon and brought to the attention of individual Muslims, and especially those among them who will be given these salaries, is that they make their work sincere for Allah so that we are free from the problem of taking a wage; because of the frequent recurrence of such questions: Is it permissible to take a wage for teaching the Qur'an? For leading people in prayer? For the adhan? And the like? I feel very strongly that people do not distinguish between what is called a wage and what is called a salary or compensation, and this distinction is a very fundamental matter; because the results differ radically between taking a wage for worship and taking compensation or a reward or the like.
And some people may assume that the issue is formal, what is the difference, did you call it a wage or did you call it a reward or a fee or compensation or salary or the like?
No, the difference is big and very big, like the difference between one who goes out as a mujahid in the path of Allah seeking martyrdom in the path of Allah, and another who goes out for jihad but he hopes for material gain; and therefore came the famous authentic hadith with which Imam al-Bukhari opened his book "Sahih": .
The commentators of the hadith mention that the reason for this hadith is that a man went out with the Messenger—peace be upon him—for jihad in the path of Allah in appearance, but his intention was that he might obtain a woman in those lands which the aim was directed toward conquering, and it is known as Umm Qays; so he went out for jihad hoping to obtain this woman, and it became known among the scholars of hadith as the hadith of the migration of Umm Qays, the migration of Umm Qays; meaning this man migrated with the intention of obtaining that woman, and he did not make his intention sincere in the migration or in jihad in the path of Allah—Mighty and Majestic—so it was named the migration of Umm Qays.
I said that the scholars of hadith mention this occasion, and although this occasion is not authentic in its chain according to the method of the scholars of hadith; unlike the original hadith, which is clear and established with certain establishment; because their chain is first of all authentic with no blemish, and secondly because the Ummah as a whole accepted this hadith until some scholars like al-Nawawi and others said: "This hadith is a third of Islam"; because all deeds are based on this sincerity which the hadith encourages: to the end of the hadith. And therefore it is necessary to draw the attention of these teachers who are helped with such assistance that is collected from many benefactors not to consider it a wage so that their work is nullified, but rather this is considered a fee, a salary, a reward, assistance, etc., and there is no doubt that the ruling of one deed differs in the Shari'ah according to the difference in intention; and therefore it is not permissible for a Muslim to belittle this distinction between taking this money as a wage and taking it as compensation or assistance, it is not permissible to belittle this distinction; because it is a fundamental distinction; that is because it is established that the matter of one deed differs according to the difference in intention, and among the evidence for that is the authentic hadith in which the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said to the poor when they complained of their matter to him, and they were envious of the rich for what they did of charity while sharing with the poor in worship in prayer and fasting, but they excelled them in charity; so he answered them—peace be upon him—in the known story by saying: . Here is the point; they said: O Messenger of Allah, does one of us fulfill his desire and have a reward for it? He said: . They said: Yes. He said: .
So this one fulfilled his desire and this one fulfilled his desire, that one fulfilled his desire and a reward was written for him for it, and the other fulfilled his desire and a sin was written for him, and based on this distinction between one intention and the other in the same deed, some scholars elaborated on the previous hadith: , and they gave some examples clarifying the importance of this type of hadith; they said: if a man traveled and then returned to his country and entered his house and had intercourse with his wife, and naturally a traveling man would be eager for his wife, but it became clear to him afterwards that this was not the wife, for some reason the wife went to her family, her sister or another woman took her place, etc., and that means he fell into the wrong matter, but the man when he had intercourse with her in his belief that she was his lawful wife; this has no sin on him, it is matched by another example exactly the opposite of this; a married man, but he is not satisfied with his wife, so he went out one night seeking to fulfill his desire with some women, when he entered a house he knew there were prostitutes, a woman was presented to him, of course under dim lights, he fulfilled his desire from her, and if it was his wife; because when he left the house to fulfill his desire through haram, she in turn—also—went out seeking such haram desire, so they met without an appointment and without knowledge, but they are a couple, but they are both sinful, and if one of them fulfilled his desire from his wife and she in turn fulfilled her desire from her husband but the intention was haram, so the first one, although he had intercourse with one who was not his lawful wife, is not sinful, and the other, although he had intercourse with his lawful wife, is sinful; why? Because of his saying—peace be upon him: .
So two men teach religious knowledge, one is rewarded and the other is punished, and both of them have a salary; so they differ according to the difference in intention; and therefore in my belief it is obligatory that this project be accompanied by drawing attention to this reality, otherwise the issue becomes assistance in not being sincere in the obedience of Allah—Mighty and Majestic—and of that is teaching people; so that those in charge of this project have encompassed the project from the Shari'ah perspective from all its sides; just as they do well when they strive diligently to collect these assistance to free some people for teaching—any knowledge from the religious knowledge as we mentioned earlier—at the same time it is obligatory that they undertake directing these teachers to be sincere in their teaching to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
This is a reminder, and the reminder benefits the believers, if Allah wills.

The questioner : May Allah reward you.