Building a Graveyard Wall with Income from Cinema Shows

Question

There is an old graveyard here around which no boundary wall has been built. The situation now is that a boundary wall must somehow be built around it. An appeal for donations has already been made, but because of the poor condition of the Muslims the donations are not being collected, and the estimate of the expense is very high. In such a case, what is the Shar‘i ruling if two or four cinema shows are arranged and the boundary wall is built from their income?

Answer

It is not permitted to arrange cinema shows for this purpose and to obtain money from them; it is a sin (ma‘siya). If, however, shops are built around the graveyard and let out on rent, and the expenses of the graveyard are met from the rent, there is room for that, provided these buildings do not cause the graveyard to become cramped.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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