Thursday 18 Ramadan 1445 - 28 March 2024
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Giving charity to a charitable hospital that is owned by a man with a bad reputation

Question

There is a Cancer hospital in my country which serves the poor immensely . Rich and poor are treated equally there- poor swarm from all over country to receive free treatment there- lots of people give sadaqat to the hospital - however the owner of hospital is a man in politics and is considered by many as being a man of not good character - there are many rumours about him and some are indeed true My question is that are we allowed to give sadaqat to such a hospital where the poor are indeed helped but there is possibility that some money might be used by the owner , though the hospital has a board of governors etc to monitor the management. There is no way to find if our sadaqat are 100 percent used for patients but looking at the treatment offered by the hospital one can reasonably state that not all money is being taken by him for himself - hospital is not supported by government n charity is its only income

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

If the poor and needy are benefitting from the hospital as you say, then there is nothing wrong with giving charity and donations to support it and enable it to continue, especially since the hospital is not supported by the state.

All that can be done with regard to this man is that people should strive to prevent him gaining control of the money as much as possible, whether that is by means of a good watchdog body, or strong social pressure, or other means. If it is not possible to ward off his transgressions against people’s wealth and the rights of the patients, then one should examine what is in people’s best interests. If the interests served by supporting the hospital are greater and it benefits more people, and the financial corruption caused by this man is less severe in comparison to what is achieved of serving the people’s best interests and treating the sick, then there is nothing wrong with giving charity to the hospital.

If giving charity in the form of medicines, equipment and the like could ward off his evil, or reduce it, then giving charity in this form is better.

If anyone prefers to err on the side of caution and chooses to give his charity to the poor himself, so that he can be sure that it has reached them, then there is nothing wrong with doing that, especially since there are so many poor and needy sick people who go to this hospital or others, and he could even give it to poor and needy people who are not patients of that hospital.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: In our region there is a branch of a charitable organisation; is it permissible for me to give some of the zakaah on my wealth to them?

He replied: If the people who are in charge of this charitable organisation are people who are trustworthy in terms of their religious commitment and knowledge, then there is nothing wrong with giving some of your zakaah to them and telling them that it is zakaah, so that they do not use it as if it is regular charity.

But if you do not know anything about them, then it is preferable to give the zakaah yourself; in fact it is preferable for you to do that yourself in all cases, because giving the zakaah yourself, being certain that it has reached those who are entitled to it, and being rewarded for your efforts in ensuring that it reaches those who are entitled to it, is better than giving it to someone else to do that on your behalf.

End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb (7/408)

And Allah knows best.

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Source: Islam Q&A