Taking donations in the expectation that entitled students will come

Question

A religious scholar has founded a madrasa in which purely Arabic and Persian are taught, and this area is ignorant as regards religious education. He accepts donations of every kind and says that once some money has been collected, arrangements for meals will be made here. Is it permissible to accept donations of every kind on this expectation?

Answer

If at present meals for poor entitled (mustahiqq) students have not been arranged because the funds are insufficient, and he is striving to arrange them and there is a strong expectation of this, then he may accept such money as well; but it must be borne in mind that money taken for a particular head must necessarily be spent on that very head.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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