Question #333:
Will taking wages for leading ṣalāh and giving khuṭbah in a masjid come under this permissibility, especially those who do not work anywhere?
Related to Asking for a fee to teach the Qurʾān or the Dīn
Answer:
This is an issue of khilāf between the scholars, however that which is correct is that one should not make a condition to be given a wage for these religious roles, especially for the teaching of the Qurʾān.
Jābir bin ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنهما narrated:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ once came upon us while we were reciting the Qurʾān, and there were among us bedouins and non-Arabs. said,
“Recite, for each (one of you) is (reciting) acceptably. And there will come (after you) peoples who will straighten it just as the shaft of an arrow is straightened; they will be hasty (in its reward) with it, and they delay not (its reward for the hereafter).”
Meaning: They are a people who are hasty with their recitation in seeking the reward in the world by charging for their teachings, and they delay not, means not seeking the reward of the Hereafter through their recitation. So they do not teach for the sake of Allāh rather they make a condition of taking a fee.
See Al-ʿUlūmul-Qurʾān of our Shaykh Abū ʿAmr al-Ḥajūrī
Answered by: Abū Hārūn Muḥammad ʿAbdin-Nūr