Fatwa ID: 08269
Answered by: Mawlana Abdurrahman Mohammad
Question:
I would like to seek your guidance on an important matter. When a Masjid Committee or Trust makes a significant error that results in a substantial financial loss, who bears the responsibility for covering the cost — the Committee/Trust or the worshippers?
Scenario 1:
A Masjid Trust/Committee employed an Imam from outside the city, who fulfilled his duties to the best of his ability. After a year, the Committee decided to hire a second Imam, who happened to be the son of one of the trustees and was unemployed at the time. Later, the Committee realized they only needed one Imam and decided to retain the second Imam due to his personal connection with the trustees. The first Imam’s duties, responsibilities, and pay were gradually minimized, reducing him from his role as the main Imam and Principal to just a part-time madrassa teacher. Feeling unfairly treated, the Imam took the Trust to court, which ruled in his favor, ordering the Masjid to pay him £20,000. Should the financial burden in this case fall on the Trust/Committee or the worshippers?
Scenario 2:
A Trust, led predominantly by one individual who is an Alim, has taken several bank loans (incurring interest) to purchase houses, schools, and other properties for the Trust’s activities. The trustees and committee members include his family members, such as daughters and sons-in-law. The Trust is now in deficit, and the individual has also borrowed large amounts of qard-e-hasana from community members, which remain unpaid. The Trust consists of Masajid, madrassas, and schools. In such a situation, is the Alim and his team responsible for covering the financial burden, or does this responsibility fall on the worshippers/community?
Scenario 3:
A Masjid Committee decided to invest Masjid funds in a Ponzi scheme, which resulted in a financial loss due to a scam. Should the responsibility for this mistake lie with the Committee, or should the worshippers bear the cost?
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
If the funds were used for the sake of the community, the worshippers would bear the benefits and losses. If the funds were usurped and used to benefit only the committee members for their personal expenses, the committee is liable to pay back for what was used. In the scenarios you mentioned, the committee had used the funds for the sake of the community, despite making many erroneous judgments.
In the first scenario, the committee elected an Imam from one of the committee member’s families. The Imam performed his duties for the Masjid and Masjid funds were used to compensate him, despite the unfair treatment of the previous Imam. The funds were used for the community and not for individual benefit or personal gain, despite conflict of interest. In the second scenario, loans were taken out to facilitate Masjid activities. The trustees have the right to buy and sell properties (besides the Masjid) for the sake of the Waqf.
If the trustee sells a house that he bought with the money of the endowment, he has the right to accept the sale with the buyer if the sale is not for more than the fair price.[1]
If the trustee of the mosque buys a shop or a house with the mosque’s money and then sells it, it is permissible if he has the authority to buy it.[2]
Even though the loans incurred interest and were mismanaged, the fact that they were taken out for the sake of the community by the Masjid trustees does not change. In the third scenario, the Masjid has the right to invest money for the benefit of the Masjid. If these investments lead to a loss, the committee bears the blame for making this decision but is not financially responsible.
The community is responsible for electing the committee and ensuring that qualified God-fearing individuals make important decisions for the Masjid and Waqf property.
No one is appointed except a trustworthy and capable person. By himself or by his representative, and the male and female are equal in this, and so is the blind and the sighted, and so is the one who has been punished for slander if he repents, and the conditions for validity are his reaching puberty and his sanity, as stated in Al-Bahr Al-Ra’iq.[2]
The community also financially supports the Masjid, regardless of the committee’s decisions. Therefore, it would be the community’s fault for allowing such unqualified members to take control and make decisions on their behalf. They should advise the committee to fix their mistakes and take action through other permissible means to ensure that correct Sharia-compliant decisions are made for the Masjid.
Only Allah (عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ) knows best.
Written by Mawlana Abdurrahman Mohammad
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
References:
[1] وَلَوْ بَاعَ الْقَيِّمُ دَارًا اشْتَرَاهَا بِمَالِ الْوَقْفِ فَلَهُ أَنْ يَقْبَلَ الْبَيْعَ مَعَ الْمُشْتَرِي إذَا لَمْ يَكُنْ الْبَيْعُ بِأَكْثَرَ مِنْ ثَمَنِ الْمِثْلِ وَكَذَا إذَا عُزِلَ وَنُصِّبَ غَيْرُهُ لِلْمَنْصُوبِ إقَالَتُهُ بِلَا خِلَافٍ كَذَا فِي الْبَحْرِ الرَّائِقِ.
(Al-Fatāwā Al-Hindiyyah, vol. 2, pg. 413, Al-Maṭba’ah Al-Kubrā Al-Amīriyyah)
[2] مُتَوَلِّي الْمَسْجِدِ إذَا اشْتَرَى بِمَالِ الْمَسْجِدِ حَانُوتًا أَوْ دَارًا ثُمَّ بَاعَهَا جَازَ إذَا كَانَتْ لَهُ وِلَايَةُ الشِّرَاءِ
(Al-Fatāwā Al-Hindiyyah, vol. 2, pg. 417, Al-Maṭba’ah Al-Kubrā Al-Amīriyyah)
[3] (الْبَابُ الْخَامِسُ فِي وِلَايَةِ الْوَقْفِ وَتَصَرُّفِ الْقَيِّمِ فِي الْأَوْقَافِ وَفِي كَيْفِيَّةِ قِسْمَةِ الْغَلَّةِ وَفِيمَا إذَا قَبِلَ الْبَعْضُ دُونَ الْبَعْضِ أَوْ مَاتَ الْبَعْضُ وَالْبَعْضُ حَيٌّ) الصَّالِحُ لِلنَّظَرِ مَنْ لَمْ يَسْأَلْ الْوِلَايَةَ لِلْوَقْفِ وَلَيْسَ فِيهِ فِسْقٌ يُعْرَفُ هَكَذَا فِي فَتْحِ الْقَدِيرِ وَفِي الْإِسْعَافِ لَا يُوَلَّى إلَّا أَمِينٌ قَادِرٌ بِنَفْسِهِ أَوْ بِنَائِبِهِ وَيَسْتَوِي فِيهِ الذَّكَرُ وَالْأُنْثَى وَكَذَا الْأَعْمَى وَالْبَصِيرُ وَكَذَا الْمَحْدُودُ فِي قَذْفٍ إذَا تَابَ، وَيُشْتَرَطُ فِي الصِّحَّةِ بُلُوغُهُ وَعَقْلُهُ كَذَا فِي الْبَحْرِ الرَّائِقِ
(Al-Fatāwā Al-Hindiyyah, vol. 2, pg. 408, Al-Maṭba’ah Al-Kubrā Al-Amīriyyah)
