Stones Were Bought for a Mosque and the Seller Gave One Stone as a Keepsake

Question

The people of a village sent three men to another town to buy stone floor slabs for the mosque. They went there and bought the said goods for the mosque. After the money and so on had been paid, while the goods were being loaded, one of them said to the shopkeeper, “Give me one stone as well.” The shopkeeper said, “Are you taking it for your personal need?” He said, “Yes.

Answer

Given these details, this stone does not fall under “gifts to officials” (hadaya al-‘ummal), because, firstly, they did not receive these stones as sadaqa or donations; rather, they bought them — unlike the case of Ibn Labid, where there was no transaction of purchase but rather the collection of obligatory sadaqat for the bayt al-mal (public treasury)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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