Question
My question is related to another question that was recently asked to you by someone else regarding using illegal income sources to fund Islamic causes. The illegal source used in that question was robbery, and you specified in your answer that there was no concept of an Islamic Robin Hood1.
However, my question is regarding money that is earned legally, but through un-Islamic sources of income. Examples could be income made via interest, selling beer and alcohol, singing and doing concerts in mixed crowds, or indulging in any other number of un-Islamic acts, that while do demand that you work for the money, are nonetheless haraam in Islam.
My question is: Can the money earned from such sources be used to fund Islamic causes, say build a mosque or fund an Islamic school or send to Palestine? Can a ‘haraam’ source of income be used to fund an Islamic cause?
Answer
Your question entails two separate possibilities: Firstly, whether an Islamic organization can earn money through a source of income – with which it funds its Islamic activities – which is declared to be prohibited by the Shari`ah? As, for instance, earnings through investments in interest based securities etc. Secondly, whether an Islamic organization can accept donations from a person, who has declared or is known to have earned his income from a source declared to be prohibited by the Shari`ah?
As far as the first situation is concerned, I would consider it an act of clear transgression on the part of the management of such Islamic organization. An Islamic organization must not own any source of income which is clearly prohibited by the Shari`ah.
As far as the second possibility is concerned, i.e. whether an Islamic organization may accept donations from a person, whose income has been earned from a source declared to be prohibited by the Shari`ah, the situation may further be categorized into two groups:
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Where the sources of income of the person are not known to the management of the organization; and
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Where the sources of income of the person are known to the management of the organization.
In the first case, because it is not necessary for the organization to determine the source of income of each individual, who donates to its cause, therefore, it may accept donations from any individual, who may like to donate to it without ascertaining his/her source of income. In such a case, it is possible that the management of an Islamic organization, due to its lack of knowledge of the sources of an individual’s income, may accept his donations, even though his income is derived from sources, which the Shari`ah declares to be prohibited.
In the second case, where the source of income is known to the management of the organization, the decision of acceptance or non-acceptance of the donation from such an individual, in my opinion, should rest on the attitude of the individual toward the directives of the Shari`ah. If the individual in question is repentant of his sin of being involved in earning through a source, which the Shari`ah had declared to be prohibited, and wants to dispose of the money so earned, without spending any part of it on himself or his family, then the organization may accept money from such a person. On the other hand, if the individual has an attitude of transgression toward the directives of the Shari`ah and, thus, considers it allowable for himself to take interest or earn through any other available means, irrespective of their standing in the Shari`ah, then he may be requested to spend his money in some other cause, except in the cause of Islam.
A close examination of the foregoing opinion would show that it is, in fact, not the prohibited source of one’s earnings but one’s attitude toward such earnings that should play a decisive role in whether or not his donations be accepted by an Islamic organization. The reason for which I ascribe to this opinion is that a donation, from whatever source it is generated remains a donation. A donation generated from income through interest does not become interest for the organization, which accepts such donation; it remains a donation. Nevertheless, accepting donations from an individual is to give such individual patronage of the concerned organization. Patronage of an Islamic organization, in my opinion, should not be given to those individuals whose disregard of the directives of the Shari`ah are publicly known and acknowledged.
I hope this helps.
January 23, 2001
- Reference is to a previous response titled ‘Robbing a Bank to Contribute in God’s Cause‘. [↩]