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Donating hides of sacrifices to build Masjid

Question

A religious committee supervising the construction of a Masjid would like to carry out a profitmaking project for the sake of the Masjid. It is to collect, with no return, the hides of 'Eid sacrifices from their owners after doing the ritual and sell them to a company specialized in leather manufacturing. They plan to benefit from the price in building the Masjid. What is the Sharee'ah ruling on this act given that the owners of the hides know the details of this operation well?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The hides of sacrifices could be used in all kinds of benefits. If the hides’ owners donate them to the above-mentioned charitable society to sell it and benefit from the price in building the Masjid, then that would be a righteous permissible deed.

According to the scholars, the one offering the sacrifice has the right to benefit from the hide, give it in charity or as a gift, or lend it. However, they differ as to whether or not it is permissible for him to sell it. Maalik, Ash-Shaafi‘i and Ahmad are of the opinion that it is impermissible for the one sacrificing to sell the hide of his sacrifice. Abu Haneefah, Al-Hasan Al-Basri and others, however, support the permissibility of selling it.

Anyway, concerning the case in question, the one sacrificing does not sell the hide: he just donates it to the committee, and the committee has the right to dispose of it as it likes, even if it sells the hide for the purpose mentioned above.

Allaah Knows best.

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