Helping the poor from mosque donations

A question about helping the poor from money people donate for the upkeep of a mosque, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that this is forbidden, because a donor stands in the place of an endower whose condition must be respected, and that the poor are to be provided for through zakat committees. ¹

The questioner asked whether the poor may be helped from money people donate for looking after the mosque's affairs. ¹

The Department answered that mosque committees may not spend any of the mosque's donations on anything other than what they were collected for, because donations are spent according to the donor's intention and condition, the donor stands in the place of an endower, and an endower's condition must in principle be kept. ¹ It quoted Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwayni in Nihayat al-Matlab that the endower's condition governs the qualities, amounts and order of those entitled, and al-Shirazi in al-Muhadhdhab that an endowment's yield is spent according to the endower's condition. ¹ It said the poor and needy have a known right in Muslims' wealth, and the people of every neighbourhood should provide for those in need there, which can be done through the zakat committees working in their area. ¹ It concluded that spending any mosque donations on the poor and needy is forbidden, because what is collected for a specific purpose may not be spent on another and the donor's condition is binding. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3956, dated 13 March 2025. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.