A Salary for Imamate

Question

Is it permissible for the imams of mosques to insist on a fixed salary, and to refuse to accept the imamate if a salary is not given in accordance with their demand?

Answer

The higher course is that the imamate be performed without a salary and that the followers in prayer (muqtadis) take responsibility for the imam’s needs. But the imam has neither that much forbearance nor that much means, nor do the muqtadis have that much regard and consideration. On the basis of these circumstances the later jurists (muta’akhkhirun)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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