Ruling on Encouraging Students with Money to Memorize the Qur'an
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Question:
By the grace and success of Allah, circles for memorizing the Noble Qur'an have been established, seeking the pleasure of Allah, in more than fifty mosques to date. I had promised every student who memorizes a part of the Qur'an that I would give him fifty riyals. However, I fear that the student's goal in memorizing may be solely for the fifty riyals, causing him to grow up with a love for money, and that I would be the cause of that. I am also concerned about my creed. Should I fulfill my promise to them? I note that the fifty riyals actually encourage them to memorize, and some of them stopped attending the mosque when they learned they would not receive anything. Or should I withhold this reward so that they become accustomed to memorizing purely for Allah, without expecting a reward for it? Please advise us, may Allah reward you.
Answer:
We are not aware of any harm in this, and this is, if Allah wills, a righteous deed; because they become accustomed to memorizing the Qur'an, and then Allah guides them to sincerity in their deeds. It is narrated from some of the Salaf that he said: "We learned the knowledge for other than Allah, so He refused to accept it except for His sake."
So the conclusion: Encouraging the memorization of the Qur'an, and the learning of knowledge, through assistance and prizes, there is no harm in this, if Allah wills. It undoubtedly helps in persisting in the pursuit of knowledge and in memorizing the Qur'an. So we hope that there is nothing wrong with this, and that the one who gives the money is rewarded. However, this should not be from zakah, but from other wealth besides zakah. This is because the student may be wealthy and not eligible for zakah, so these matters should be from other than zakah. Unless it is known that the students are poor, and they are encouraged with money to study and memorize the Qur'an, and their families are poor and unable to provide for their needs; in that case, there is no harm in using zakah.
By the grace and success of Allah, circles for memorizing the Noble Qur'an have been established, seeking the pleasure of Allah, in more than fifty mosques to date. I had promised every student who memorizes a part of the Qur'an that I would give him fifty riyals. However, I fear that the student's goal in memorizing may be solely for the fifty riyals, causing him to grow up with a love for money, and that I would be the cause of that. I am also concerned about my creed. Should I fulfill my promise to them? I note that the fifty riyals actually encourage them to memorize, and some of them stopped attending the mosque when they learned they would not receive anything. Or should I withhold this reward so that they become accustomed to memorizing purely for Allah, without expecting a reward for it? Please advise us, may Allah reward you.
Answer:
We are not aware of any harm in this, and this is, if Allah wills, a righteous deed; because they become accustomed to memorizing the Qur'an, and then Allah guides them to sincerity in their deeds. It is narrated from some of the Salaf that he said: "We learned the knowledge for other than Allah, so He refused to accept it except for His sake."
So the conclusion: Encouraging the memorization of the Qur'an, and the learning of knowledge, through assistance and prizes, there is no harm in this, if Allah wills. It undoubtedly helps in persisting in the pursuit of knowledge and in memorizing the Qur'an. So we hope that there is nothing wrong with this, and that the one who gives the money is rewarded. However, this should not be from zakah, but from other wealth besides zakah. This is because the student may be wealthy and not eligible for zakah, so these matters should be from other than zakah. Unless it is known that the students are poor, and they are encouraged with money to study and memorize the Qur'an, and their families are poor and unable to provide for their needs; in that case, there is no harm in using zakah.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.