Collecting Donations by Force

Question

The clerk of the police station says: “I will collect donations for the blessed mosque from the landholders, because people give no help at all in such a good work. So I will tell them: ‘You must give a donation for the mosque,’ and I will collect it in any case. It is for a good cause, not for me personally.” Upon this the clerk was told that from whoever gives a donation willingly, it should be taken gently. Upon this he said: “However they give, it is for the mosque; I will certainly take something or other.

Answer

Collecting donations by force is impermissible. Whoever gives of his own will, let it be taken from him; compelling someone who does not give is a sin, and putting such wealth into the mosque is also impermissible: [ar]لِأَنَّ اللَّهَ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى لَا يَقْبَلُ إِلَّا الطَّيِّبَ، فَيُكْرَهُ تَلْوِيثُ بَيْتِهِ بِمَا لَا يَقْبَلُهُ[/ar] “For Allah, Blessed and Exalted is…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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