Accepting aid from Christians for Islamic madrasas

Question

We have a religious madrasa which has neither a building of its own nor receives any aid from the government. Those responsible for the madrasa are currently facing difficulties. We hope that your honour will kindly answer this from the standpoint of the Shari‘a. Seeing the poor condition of the madrasa, some foreign Christians undertook to bear all the expenses, and for a long time they have been regularly paying sums at intervals, from which the madrasa building, the teachers’ salaries, the maintenance of the…

Answer

If a person of any other religion gives money for a religious work of the Muslims, regarding it as a meritorious deed, then in itself (fi nafsihi) accepting it and spending it there is permissible according to the Shari‘a, provided there is no harmful consequence (mafsada) in it. The Christians who keep giving money for madrasas of the religion of Islam have some purpose in it.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.