Building a madrasa with donations and calling it one’s own house; not accepting some rulings of Bihishti Zewar

Question

A certain religious scholar has five living brothers. In the name of the madrasa, he had his father execute a sale deed in his own name for one and a half (1½) bighas of land (a bigha is a local unit of land area). The land consolidation department accepted this sale deed. The father did not make that land a waqf for the madrasa. Now in the land consolidation its plot will be marked off separately.

Answer

It is not permissible to spend zakat and sadaqat al-fitr on the construction of a madrasa, nor is it valid to use them for salaries; rather, it is wajib to give them to the destitute poor. Building a madrasa by collecting donations and saying “this house is mine” is a wrong way; he must rectify all of this.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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