Today, when I came out of the masjid, I saw few beautiful benches placed in the lawn of the masjid. On each bench, there was a stamp of the trade mark of the bank which financed the making of those benches.
In the beginning I felt happy to see them but then I started to feel uncomfortable when I recalled few past experiences. I have seen some Quranic verses and hadiths being distributed in shops, buses and even in masjids but at the bottom of each of them one could see the phone number, address and e-mail address of the jewelery shop which financed the cost of its printing and distribution.
Though I don’t suspect there intentions, I remember once a shopkeeper was asked to honestly tell the truth if the purpose of printing and distribution of such stuff was for gaining sawab or advertising his shop. He replied, " For the advertisement of my shop"
May Allah bless us with the sincere intentions and wisdom to not use religion for advertisement and for popularity gimmick which some of the singers / actors also do in the present age ( while making immoral videos at the same time).
Surely that must be the least of anyone's worries. Religion sells and it sells well, alhamdulillah.
Halaal butchers, Zamzam cola, lota sellers, Amanah 'shariah compliant' investments, haji shafeeq's jewellery store all thrive on the historic idea of gaining hasana in this world and the hereafter.
Frankly I'd be more worried about who is paying the Imam at your local mosque.
I agree, but then there is a bad aspect of it as well. A person selling poor quality stuff in the name of religion as compared to a good quality stuff who is not exploiting people's emotions but only doing their job honestly and sincerely to present to people the best quality material. I would prefer milk by a sincere and honest dairy shop compared to a Maulana hajji Abdullah shop if I come to know (from authentic means) that he adds dirty water to milk.
Secondly, I am sure the imam of a masjid would be worried if he knows that the money he is getting is based on Interest, which is considered haraam in Islam. Or if the people who are sponsoring the masjid construction are part of a terrorist organization who earn their money on the basis of haraam means (snatching from people..etc.).
thats quite a link you've managed to create in between seeing an ulterior motive in ppl / businesses doing good for the community (u'r 1st post) and outright fraud (ur 2nd post).
Why should the poor shopkeeper have to answer to you for his intentions in printing religious stuff which also advertises his shop? And why does that exclude him from sawaab? Unless he is doing something illegal / haraam, I'd say he earns a greater sawaab for providing for his family and earning halaal ki kamai'ee.
may allah bless us with the ability to not look for a grand conspiracy in everything we do.
I agree, but then there is a bad aspect of it as well. A person selling poor quality stuff in the name of religion as compared to a good quality stuff who is not exploiting people's emotions but only doing their job honestly and sincerely to present to people the best quality material. I would prefer milk by a sincere and honest dairy shop compared to a Maulana hajji Abdullah shop if I come to know (from authentic means) that he adds dirty water to milk.
Secondly, I am sure the imam of a masjid would be worried if he knows that the money he is getting is based on Interest, which is considered haraam in Islam. Or if the people who are sponsoring the masjid construction are part of a terrorist organization who earn their money on the basis of haraam means (snatching from people..etc.).
So your issue is with the dirty water not with the water in milk, if he is adding clean water you will have no issue with it. Just kidding.
Even if the intention of someone are to promote a legitimate business using the verses of Quran or a hadees what is wrong with it ?
For example if I sell Halal Milk and I use the verse of Quran dictating Muslims to eat and drink from halal and tayyab stuff to promote it what wrong do you see in it ?
If I donate a clock to the Masjid and I have ad. of my company on its face what is wrong with it ? My intentions are to promote my business and make halal living for my family , earning halal living is not an abadat ? Will I not be rewarded for striving to earn halal living for my family ?
If they are making up verses or hadess to do so then surely it is an issue. A great scholar was telling me a story about how at one point of time people were using hadees to promote their business.
A guy in some city of Arabia was selling hareesa , but he was not getting good business so he made up a hadess and started yelling " Rasool Allah(SAW) said that eat hareesa it is good for you." Astaghfarullah.
Listening to this people flocked to his cart and all his haressa was sold.
Now to the question of salary paid to an imam by a person who is earing it using wrong means. Last time I checked that money is haram for the guy who earned it using haram means but it is not haram for the imam of masjid. If imam of masjid is promoting the agenda of that guy or encouraging him to use haram means to earn that money then it will become haram to that imam also. If this imam takes this salary and does not condemn the life style of the person paying him that salary then it is haram for that imam. If the person who earns money using illegitimate means to earn his living and donates to masjid at his own free will , there is no haram in masjid or imam in accepting the donation of that person. Yes they not encouraging him to do so and their acceptance of this donation for this person does not give any kind of certificate of jannat to this guy or legitimacy to his actions.
Before anybody starts to criticize me for these points of views I will appeal to them to read my post two three times.
I didn't mean to blame those people who do such acts with good intentions. But my intentions were to point out people who only use it "JUST" a mean to get ahead from other competitors in the market without implementing / giving importance to the same verses in their own lifestyle. As if religion is nothing but a way to gain more popularity and money when one feels one is not capable enough to prove the quality of their products.. Such products might even damage the faith of customers in other innocent religious shopkeepers. (for example with beard and cap on their head).
Of course I didn't interview people myself but heard from a person who once asked this question. I don't have a right to judge people, that is why I didn't point finger at any particular company, but as I said my intentions were to mention people selling bad stuff in the name of religion, the results of the intentions would of course be disclosed by Allah (s.w.t) on the day of judgment.
I pray that most people do it with good intentions but we can't deny that such people do exist who use religion more than they imply it in their own lifestyles
^ Because when shopkeepers sell bad stuff in the name of religion they are also creating a bad reputation of those religious shopkeepers (from appearance) who are innocent and don't sell bad stuff.
Unfortunately a lot of common people these days easily judge and generalize when it comes to religion.
Incidentally I have issues with religious capitalism too. The Sauds, they've just realised the oil is running out (or has run out, depending on which sources you believe) and have begun to increasingly settle for religious tourism to replenish the petro-dollars by demolishing small independent retailers and building princely-owned complexes and malls. Seriously, who on earth want to shop in M&S, Next and eat out at KFC during Hajj / Umrah?
That and the small matter of their financing of extremist ideology.
I know. whats next? 5 star camping accomodation at mina? oh i forgot they have that already.
Its a rot this religious exploitation. For a start all these israel-loving companies shouldn't even be in SA. The fact they are shows the real intention of those bunch of drunky american loving Al-saud bedouins.
^ Because when shopkeepers sell bad stuff in the name of religion they are also creating a bad reputation of those religious shopkeepers (from appearance) who are innocent and don't sell bad stuff.
Unfortunately a lot of common people these days easily judge and generalize when it comes to religion.
On the other hand, people who are selling bad stuff in their own names are creating a bad reputation only for themselves. But in the broader perspective, for their country as well, if they are dealing with foreigners.
yes yes I understand the PR aspect of 'how it looks' very well, thanks. The trouble is your OP. You start off with suspecting donated benches and shopkeepers simply because they've advertised their business.
You then do an about-turn in your follow up post saying ppl who do bad things in the name of religion are bad ppl...well uh ok...hows that for a self-explanatory statement?!
Bad is as bad does. With or without religion. Most ppl have enuff commonsense to make that distinction.
If people had enough of a common sense to make that distinction, they wouldn't have considered terrorists as representative of Islam, who kill people in the name of religion, but have different motives behind that "religious" tag.