The standard for the salary of an imam and a qadi

Question

(1) I am the imam of our local mosque and also the qadi; for a long time I have been doing religious work without payment, for the sake of Allah (fi sabil Allah), and I have moreover had a magnificent mosque and a well built in the village. But now I have become constrained and weak. The villagers, seeing my hardship, are ready to pay me a salary. Is it permissible to take a salary for household expenses from the money of collected donations? (2)

Answer

You have served for so long — may Allah Most High bless you with a great reward and remove your straitened circumstances. Do not take for your own expenses from the donations that are collected for the mosque and the like. You do, however, have the right to tell the people of the mosque: “Previously I had no need of a salary; now I need it, so let a salary be given to me.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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