Explanation of the author's statement: "…and their wages are forbidden…"

The Shaykh : He said "and their wages are forbidden", meaning that it is forbidden to conclude a lease contract regarding the adhan and iqamah. That is, it is forbidden to hire a person to call the adhan or the iqamah. Why? Because the adhan and iqamah are acts of devotion and forms of worship, and it is not permissible to take a wage for acts of worship. This is based on the saying of Allah the Exalted: Also, if a person intends worldly gain with his adhan, his work is invalidated and his adhan is not valid. Therefore, the wage is forbidden for him. If we were to say to a person, "Will you not call the adhan in this mosque?" and he said, "Yes, but what wage shall we agree upon? We will conclude a binding contract between us, obligating me and obligating you, agreeing that he will call the adhan at every time for one dirham per day, or five dirhams per day and night, or one hundred and fifty dirhams per month, and we agreed on this. Then another man came to the mosque and said, 'O so-and-so, you are calling the adhan in this mosque for one hundred and fifty, but I will give you two hundred.' He left his mosque and went to the other one. What did he intend with his work now? The world. He does not care about worshipping Allah through this act. Thus, the wage for both is forbidden. However, there is no harm in a reward (ju'alah). There is nothing wrong with a reward. For example, if it is stated for this mosque: "Whoever calls the adhan in this mosque will receive such and such," without a contract or obligation, this is permissible because it is a reward and does not involve obligation. It is like a gift for the one who calls the adhan, and there is no harm in giving a gift to the one who calls the adhan.