Staging a sang and giving money for it

Question

The Hindus built a mandir (a Hindu temple) in our village and staged a sang (a folk theatrical performance) for it: whatever remained over and above the daily agreed amount would belong to the mandir. Muslims too gave rewards (inʿam) at it. Seeing the Hindus, the Muslims also staged a sang: one person had given 51 rupees for the room attached to the mosque; this money was given to the sang performers and another sang was staged, and there were approximately 190 rupees in surplus.

Answer

Performing a sang, watching it and giving rewards for it are all wrong and contrary to the Shariʿa, and for Muslims to do this in emulation of non-Muslims is even more shameless. The money that remains belongs to the people who gave the rewards; it should be returned to them, and then, if all of them agree and give it afresh for the construction of the mosque room, it may be…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.