The Imam’s Conditions Regarding Meals

Question

We have a teacher here who calls himself a scholar (‘alim), but his doings are such that the majority is against him; only four or five men, who have made themselves office-bearers, have forcibly kept him on, and a quarrel is always at the ready, because he has certain conditions regarding meals which the poor common people cannot bear. He is 35 years old and has not married yet. The matter to be asked is this: where so many people are displeased, should the imam not resign of his own accord?

Answer

About the imam you have written only this much: that his conditions regarding meals are such that the poor common people cannot bear them. This is no matter for quarrel and discord at all. If the people there cannot provide meals according to his conditions, let them excuse themselves; and those who can provide should take the meals upon themselves.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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