Assalaamu alaykum. I read your fatwa, No. 86045, and was surprised that some scholars said that it is lawful to charge a fee for teaching the Quran. Allaah said (36:21), “Obey those who ask no wages of you.” So who do you want me to believe, Allaah, ‘The King’, or scholars? Because of this verse, I do not read/listen to any imam who asks for fees. By the way, they call themselves scholars or imams! One may say that this is the only source of income for them to make a living. Well, Allaah gave them this knowledge, instead of being grateful to Him and follow His commandment, they chose to make the Quran their source of income. Why? Because they are arrogant and will not accept to work any job (i.e. taxi driver and so on). They only want an office job and titles like imam, scholar, shaykh, and so on. I believe that if they were sincere to Allaah, He alone would help them find another source of income. (65:2-3) “And whosoever fears Allaah and keeps his duty to Him, He will make a way for him to get out (from every difficulty). And He will provide him from (sources) he never could imagine. And whosoever puts his trust in Allaah, then He will suffice him. Verily, Allaah will accomplish his purpose.” Because we do not fulfil our obligations to Allaah, Allaah left the Muslims and made them slaves in the earth, i.e. everyone insults, abuses, and kills them, and so on. (2:40) “And fulfil (your obligations to) My Covenant (with you) so that I fulfil (My Obligations to) your covenant (with Me), and fear none but Me.” (47:7) “O you who believe! If you help (in the cause of) Allaah, He will help you.” And scholars/imams want to charge fees to teach the Quran. They do not want to do even the least for the sake of Allaah. For this reason, Allaah is not helping us. By the way, we all think that we are Muslims, but soon we will know who the Muslims are, but it will be too late because they will be in hell fire. By the way, Allaah does not need hypocrites to teach the Quran; He alone does this, as seen in (55:1-2). Thank you kindly for taking the time to read my comments. Salam

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

We thank you for writing to us and we hope that Allah will benefit you by what you read on our website.

It would have been better for you to ask a question and get an answer about it instead of this terrible attack on those whom you described as "scholars and imaams", even accusing them in their intentions. A believer should not accuse people’s intentions, as you are not ordered to dig up what is in people's hearts to know the extent of their sincerity or its non-existence.

Rather, accusing people’s intentions is one of the qualities of the hypocrites, so a Muslim must be wary of this. Abu Mas'ood, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated, “When we were ordered to give alms, we started to work as porters (to earn something we could give in charity). Abu 'Uqayl came with one half of a Saa’ (a measure for food grains), and another person brought more than he did. So the hypocrites said, ‘Allah is not in need of the alms of this (i.e. Abu 'Uqayl); and this other person did not give alms but for showing off.' Then Allah revealed: {Those who criticize the contributors among the believers concerning [their] charities and [criticize] the ones who find nothing [to spend] except their effort, so they ridicule them - Allah will ridicule them, and they will have a painful punishment.} [Quran 9:79]”

Thinking good of a Muslim is Islamically required; and this is even more stressed in regard to the scholars due to their refined status. Taawoos said, “It is part of the Sunnah to honor a scholar.” [Abdur-Razzaaq in his Musannaf] The basic assumption is that those scholars address Islamic rulings objectively, far from any personal motives and desires. The student of knowledge should look at their evidence and inferences and then act according to what he thinks to be preponderant from their statements without denouncing or undermining the less preponderant statements.

The scholars are still debating this issue (the ruling on taking fee for teaching Quran) in their books of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), and each one of them provides his evidence and inference and discusses the evidence of the other party: all this takes place with respect and good conduct.

Here, we are not going to discuss the issue, but we say that this verse (which means), {Follow those who do not ask of you [any] payment, and they are [rightly] guided.} [Quran 36:21] is among the pieces of evidence provided by those who held that it is not permissible to take a fee for acts that are intended to bring a person closer to Allah, such as teaching the Quran and so on. On the other hand, those who held that it is permissible to take a fee also have their own evidence that is different from the apparent meaning of this verse; among which is the hadeeth about performing Ruqyah (healing through Quranic recitation and supplications) with the Quran and taking a fee in return for doing so. The hadeeth reads, “…You are most entitled to take wages for doing a Ruqyah with Allah's Book.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Now, can this accusation that you mentioned be directed at the likes of Maalik, Ash-Shaafi'i, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal?!

An-Nawawi said in explaining Saheeh Muslim:

“This hadeeth is evidence for the permissibility that the dowry be teaching the Quran and the permissibility of hiring someone to teach the Quran; both of these are permissible according to Ash-Shaafi'i. ‘Ataa’, Al-Hasan ibn Saalih, Maalik, Is-haaq, and others are of the same view.

However, some other scholars forbade it, among whom are Az-Zuhri and Abu Haneefah. This hadeeth along with the authentic hadeeth, “…You are most entitled to take wages for doing a Ruqyah with Allah's Book" refute the view of those who forbade it. Al-Qaadhi 'Iyaadh quoted the permissibility of hiring someone to teach the Quran from all the scholars with the exception of Abu Haneefah.”

As for saying that the one who acts according to this view does so because he prefers rest and does not want to do hard work, then this is an accusation of intentions, as we have already mentioned, and it is not permissible to accuse them about their intentions. Undoubtedly, they are the people who seek most to attain sincerity. Not every person who considers this view to be the preponderant one makes a living by teaching the Quran. Rather, he has a profession by which he earns his living; so this issue does not have any relation to this being the source of their livelihood or not.

We deem you to be far above thinking about this issue with such superficiality and lack of an objective scientific perspective. We advise you to direct your effort to acquiring beneficial knowledge and striving to do good deeds, as these are the paths of guidance and happiness in this world and the Hereafter.

Allah knows best.