Fatwa ID: 09357
Answered by Mufti Yusuf Badshah
Question:
Assalāmu alaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh
Respected Muftiyan-e-Kiraam,
I had a query and was hoping you could perhaps provide me with an answer or at least the correct direction.
There is a local charity which has been running for several years now. Unfortunately, due to the nature of people, the charity has had serious issues recently.
One of the issues that have arisen, is that a senior scholar has claimed that because a certain ethnic background had started the charity and had raised the majority of funds for the charity during its beginning stages, it is now incumbent upon the charity to ensure that it governed by trustees from that ethnic background only. The exact term used was “it is a Shari’ responsibility for the trustees to be from a ‘xyz’ background”.
This charity is a very multicultural one, with many of the beneficiaries of said charity being from other backgrounds other than the one that this scholar is claiming should be in charge. The charity was even established for anyone and everyone, it was not only established for people of a certain background or ethnicity and yes, whilst the fundraising may have been primarily done in one specific community, many donors were not from that community at all. As a matter of fact, at this point in time, the majority of donors are from entirely different backgrounds.
Can someone lay such a claim, is such a claim valid and has there ever been a Shari’ precedence for such a statement.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
To ensure that a charity is only governed by those belonging to a specific ethnic or racial background is a practice which is unheard of within the Shari’ah and runs contrary to the words of the Qur’an, the values of Islam and the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.
As Allah ﷻ says:
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ
“The believers are but one brotherhood, so make peace between your brothers. And fear Allah so you may be shown mercy.” (Surah Al-Hujurat 10)
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
“O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into races and tribes, so that you may identify one another. Surely the noblest of you, in Allah’s sight, is the one who is most pious of you. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” (Surah Al-Hujurat 13)
The prohibition of racism in Islam is clear from the multicultural background of the Sahabah from Bilal Ibn Rabah ﵁, a black Muslim of Abyssinian descent from the most senior Sahabah whom the Prophet ﷺ appointed as the first Mu’azzhin of Madinah, to Salman Al-Farsi ﵁, a Persian whose advice the Prophet ﷺ adopted in choosing to build trenches during the battle of Ahzab.
It is even more clear from the explicit words of the Prophet ﷺ:
It is narrated by a companion ﵁ that he heard the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ saying in a sermon on the middle day of the Days of Tashreeq, “O people! Your God is one and your father is one. Remember! No Arab has superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab, nor a light-skinned person over a black-skinned person, nor a black-skinned person over a light-skinned person, except by piety and righteousness. Have I conveyed the message?” The people said, “You have conveyed it.” (Musnad Ahmad 23489)
To discriminate against people of other races or to refuse to appoint a person to a role solely based on their race is a practice which holds no place in Islam.
At times there may be valid reasons to appoint people of a specific race to a role due to circumstances such as them needing to be representatives on behalf of a certain nationality, native speakers of a certain language or holders of a valid passport. However, the founders of a charity being of that race is not one of those reasons, and the majority of the donors not belonging to this race only makes it more unjust and immoral to exclude them from the charity.
The claim that this is a practice endorsed or prescribed by the Shari’ah of Allah ﷻ is false, made even more severe by the claimant being a senior scholar [1]. Such practices should be immediately abolished, and those who attempt to promote such falsehood should immediately and sincerely repent to Allah ﷻ.
As Allah ﷻ says:
وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ افْتَرَىٰ عَلَى اللَّهِ كَذِبًا أَوْ كَذَّبَ بِآيَاتِهِ ۗ إِنَّهُ لَا يُفْلِحُ الظَّالِمُونَ
“Who is more unjust than one who invents a lie against Allah or rejects His verses? Indeed, the wrongdoers will not succeed.” (Surah Al-An’aam 21)
Only Allah ﷻ knows best.
Written by Mufti Yusuf Badshah
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
References:
[1]
Sahih Al-Bukhari 109:
حَدَّثَنَا مَكِّيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا يَزِيدُ بْنُ أَبِي عُبَيْدٍ، عَنْ سَلَمَةَ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ “ مَنْ يَقُلْ عَلَىَّ مَا لَمْ أَقُلْ فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ ”