Conditions for Collecting Donations (Chanda)
1. At this juncture, another matter that is common to gifts (Hadiya), charity (Sadqah), etc., must be understood: gifts, charity, donations, and loans, etc., must not be from unlawful (Haram) wealth. If anyone wishes to give from Haram wealth, it should be flatly refused.
2. The second essential matter is not to take more than what is within one's capacity. Accordingly, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) never accepted more than someone's capacity, except from those regarding whom the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had complete satisfaction that their strength of trust in Allah (Tawakkul) was perfect, such as Hazrat Siddique Akbar (may Allah be pleased with him); the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) accepted his entire wealth.
3. One condition is that it should not cause any discomfort or burden to the disposition of the donor. That is, one must avoid those methods in which there is a possibility of creating a burden on the donor's heart; because it is stated in the Hadith: "The wealth of a person is not lawful except with their heart's willingness." Someone's wealth is not lawful without their consent.
4. One condition is that there should be no self-humiliation in collecting donations. This is because there are some methods of collecting donations where, although no burden is felt by the donor, the collector falls from grace in people's eyes. The prohibition of begging or asking that has appeared in the Hadith is based precisely on this reason. For this reason, where there is neither a burden on the donor nor humiliation for the collector, it is permissible to ask at the time of need. Accordingly, it is stated in the Hadith that if you must ask, ask from the righteous (Salika) or ask from the king. The summary is that either ask from the people of Allah (Ahlullah) or from a very wealthy person. (Mafasid-e-Chanda, Hazrat Thanvi RA).
Lest an image of a scholar gets fixed in the minds of the donors that even after becoming a scholar, one has to go to people for donations and ask with humiliation. If my child also has to do the same after becoming a scholar, then why should I make my child a scholar? For this reason, it is necessary to reform the current methods of donation-seeking in accordance with the guidance of Hazrat Thanvi (may Allah have mercy on him). S. Z.
