Serving (Khidma) the Tarawih Imam

Question

Zayd recites the Noble Qur’an in tarawih in blessed Ramadan and makes no mention of a fee or the like. After the khatm of the Qur’an, in order to honour the reciter and make him happy, the listeners of their own accord presented Zayd with some cash and the like. Now some scholars, on the basis of the jurists’ ﵏ rule “what is customary is like what is stipulated”, have counted this as a fee and declared it impermissible. Is this correct or not?

Answer

Taking a fee merely for reciting the Qur’an in tarawih is impermissible, whether the fee was fixed beforehand or the fee was given without being fixed. Yes, if he leads the five daily prayers and a fee is fixed for that, and in blessed Ramadan some increase is made to it, then in the basic fee for the imamate there is no difficulty according to the fatwa of the later scholars…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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