Charging for Religious Services – 3

by abu hasan November 7, 2021 2124 Views

Fatwa

In another lengthy fatwa [which is composed of a set of questions; I have extracted only the relevant part of the fatwa here for brevity]

Question:
Concerning a person [Zayd] who recites from a book in a Mawlid with such a melodious voice and tune that he outperforms professional singers; the commonfolk who do not understand a thing [of what is recited] but are just enthralled by his voice are captivated by it. Therefore, this person has fixed a fee of five rupees to recite in a Mawlid and will not go to any Mawlid which does not pay him that fee of five rupees.*

Answer:
Zayd’s recitation – particularly when he does it in a singing tune [rāg] – and fixing a fee is impermissible and forbidden. It is strictly impermissible for him to take this payment and partaking from it is forbidden as well. It is mandatory for him to return this fees to those he has collected it from; and if they are dead, return it to their heirs; and if one cannot find them, then such an amount [collected as fees] should be given in charity and he must refrain from doing so in the future.

Firstly, because the mention and remembrance of the Prince of the Universe şallAllāhu álayhi wa sallam is a noble deed and an act of worship in itself; and it is forbidden [ĥarām] to demand fees or payment for acts of worship. In Mabsūt, Khulāşah and Ālamgīrī:

It is not permitted to demand payment for good deeds [ţāáāt] like sermonizing and neither is it necessary to make such a payment.
​

In Khulāşah, Tātārkhāniyah and Ālamgīrī:

If a preacher [al-wāýīž] asks for something [like fees] for himself in a congregation, it is impermissible for him because it is earning this world by expending knowledge [of the hereafter].
​

In Qunyah, Ashbāh and Durr al-Mukhtār: [and the passage of Durr is most apt when he used the description: ‘the combination of deeds and actions of bodies’]

If two entities agree to participate in a partnership in which gainful employment is permissible – such as teaching the Qur’ān or teaching how to write or teaching fiqh as opposed to the [partnership of] middlemen and singers and witnesses in prosecution and reciters in congregation and those who offer condolence and preachers and beggars.**
​

Secondly, it is apparent from the question that the person Zayd demands a fee for his performance or recital of poetry; even this is expressly forbidden.

In Fatāwā Alamgīrī:

It is not permissible to seek/give payment for singing or recital of poetry; and this is the verdict of all three: Imām Abū Ĥanīfah, Imām Abū Yusuf, Imām Muĥammad as described in Ghāyatu’l Bayān.
​

———————————————————————-
Footnotes:

*It was a considerable amount a hundred years ago. Five rupees was approximately a 10 day wage of a craftsman; a month’s wage for an able bodied farmer; 5 rupees could fetch you 65 pounds of kerosene oil and about 40Kg of rice.

See Statistical Abstract Relating to British India, http://dsal.uchicago.edu/statistics/1903_excel/index.html
Also see Prices and Wages in India, http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/data.php#india

** The Imām is using this passage to simply illustrate that scholars classified singing and preaching as actions in which gainful employment is impermissible. Even though the mention of ‘partnership’ is actually the focus of the argument in the original texts, in this context, it is not.

In other words, it is not permissible to solicit/accept payment for
-singing
-to bear witness in a case/prosecution
-to recite in a congregation
-to offer condolences
-to preach
-to beg

[Question sent by Shaykh Álī ad-Dīn from Naintal, 27 Rabīy al-Akhir, 1313]

Fatawa Ridawiyyah: 23/722
Fatwā #366