The imam of the mosque is telling the muezzin that he has to pay a salary to the cleaner who is working instead of the official cleaner who does not do any work!
Question: 126093
I started a job in a mosque, as a muezzin, but when I agreed to work there, the imam stipulated a number of conditions, as follows:
1. I have to give the Bengali cleaner a monthly salary of no more than 800 riyals and no less than 500 riyals, from my own salary which is 1350 riyals.
2. I am responsible for renewing his annual visa (iqaamah), which costs 300 riyals.
3. I am responsible for his ticket back home every 2½ years, which costs 1300 riyals.
4. I should not evict the tenants who are living in the muezzin’s accommodation, and I had to agree to the rent of 18,000 riyals, even though this accommodation is worth a rent of approximately 24,000 riyals.
Please note that this mosque is registered with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, i.e., it is a government mosque and it has a Saudi cleaner who receives a full salary, but does not do any work in the mosque. Why should I bear all of these conditions and obligations? Does the imam have the right to stipulate these conditions when he is an employee and I am an employee?.
Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.
Firstly:
The imam does not have the right to oblige you to do what you
have mentioned, when he is an employee like you and has no authority over
you in this regard. You have to refer the matter to the Mosques Department.
Secondly:
It is not permissible for the muezzin to take a salary for
giving the adhaan and not do it. By the same token, it is not permissible
for the cleaner to take a salary when he does no work; it is not sufficient
to hire someone else to do his work without checking with the government
department and getting permission from them.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Some people who are employed as cleaners in the mosque will hire a foreigner
for one quarter of what they take as a salary, and consume the rest without
doing anything in return — Allah forbid. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may
Allah have mercy on him) said that such actions come under the heading of
consuming people’s wealth unlawfully. Some of the directors of Awqaaf
departments say: It does not concern us who does the job; rather what
matters is that the work is done. I asked the representative of the Ministry
about that and he denied it, and said that the Ministry does not approve of
it. But it is essential to differentiate between cases where the hired
worker is sponsored by the (Saudi) cleaner, in which case it is permissible
for him to give him his job, and cases in which the cleaner is not
sponsoring him, in which case it is not permissible.
End quote from Thamaraat al-Tadween
What you have mentioned in your question is worse than that.
The (Saudi) cleaner is not hiring a worker from his own money; rather he
wants someone else to pay the cleaner. This is a kind of injustice and
consuming people’s wealth unlawfully, as he is taking the salary without
doing anything in return. We ask Allah to keep us all safe and sound.
And Allah knows best.
Source:
Islam Q&A
Was this answer helpful?
Our newsletter
To join our newsletter please add your email below
IslamQA App
For a quick access to our content and offline browsing
Our newsletter
To join our newsletter please add your email below
IslamQA App
For a quick access to our content and offline browsing