Using waqf money in the manner the donor specified

· 11 Dhuʻl-Qiʻdah 1434 AH1 min readEnglish

Question

I had made a Hiba of a property to a charitable organisation with the intention of Isaal-e-Sawaab and stipulated that the income from the property be utilised for charity purposes only, example for the poor and needy, widows, orphans, for their medical and educational purposes and for mosques and madrasas etc. and also requested that a seperate account be maintained for this purpose. This understanding was put on a paper as a document in the form of Memorandum of Understanding and the caretakers of the charitable organisation accepted the offer along with these conditions and signed the document also. Now they have ustilised the revenue from the gifted property to clear up some liabilities of the organisation which they owe to a Bait ul Maal from which they had wrongly withdrawn money for the purpose of construction of a property belonging to the charitable organisation although the money in that particular Bait ul Maal account was made up of only Zakaat money. Now the caretakers have transfered money from he income generated from my gifted property into the Bait ul Maal account to comopensate for the money they had wrongly withdrawn earlier. This is real and sole intention in the transfer of money although the money so transfered into the Bait ul Maal account would eventually be utilised for distributing to Zakat deserving
people only. But please advice whether this procedure adopted by the caretakers [muttawalis] in this manner is right or wrong.

Answer

It is necessary for the mutawalees to use the money in the manner the donor had specified. Spending the money in any other way is incorrect in Shari'ah.

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

References (Arabic / Urdu sources)

لا يجوز التصرف في مال غيره بلا إذنه ولا ولايته (الدر المختار 6/200)

إن شرائط الواقف معتبرة إذا لم تخالف الشرع وهو مالك فله أن يجعل ماله حيث شاء ما لم يكن معصية وله أن يخص صنفا من الفقراء (رد المحتار 4/366)

بعث شمعا في شهر رمضان إلى مسجد فاحترق وبقي منه ثلثه أو دونه ليس للإمام ولا للمؤذن أن يأخذ بغير إذن الدافع (البحر الرائق 5/270)

Answered by
Mufti Zakaria Makada
Checked & approved by
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)
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