Question:
Sometimes mosque administrators take commission from these Zakat & donations. Is that correct?
Answer:
Understanding commissions in Islam; If someone is working to collect charity, Islam allows them to receive payment.
In the case of zakat, the Qur’an lists eight categories of recipients in Qur’an 9:60.
One of those categories is: “Those employed to collect it.”
So if someone travels, spends effort, and works to collect zakat, they can be paid from it.
Even during the time of the Prophetﷺ, zakat collectors were given compensation.
But there is a condition. The payment must be reasonable and based on real effort.
For example: Someone travels, explains the cause, and collects donations.
They spend time and effort. In that case, paying them a fair wage is permissible.
When it becomes wrong? If someone does not work at all and donations simply arrive automatically — for example through online transfers — then taking a commission from that money is not justified.
If someone voluntarily sends ₹100 or ₹1000 through an app and the administrator simply receives it without any effort, taking a percentage as commission would not be correct, because no labour was involved.
For example, if I am simply sitting in the office and a donor approaches me and donates ₹5 lakhs for the Jamat, and I issue a receipt for the donation and then take a commission from that amount — is this fair? Is it right to take a commission without putting in any effort?
This is the question he raises. Similarly, people regularly send monthly donations through GPay or other apps without any effort from the administrators. Is it allowed to take a percentage from such donations? Not at all. Yet some take 30% or 40% from these funds. Such actions do not reflect piety; rather, they resemble hypocrisy. The masjid management must reconsider this practice.
Conclusion:
- Payment for actual work in collecting charity is allowed.
- Payment without effort from funds that arrive automatically is not justified.
- Taking excessive percentages (like 30–40%) is clearly unethical and violates the trust placed in charitable funds.
Islam emphasizes fairness, responsibility, and fear of Allahﷻ when handling public funds.