I would like to know if it is permissible to use a crowd funding website to fund my fathers cancer treatment. An example of a crowdfunding website would be www.gofund.me. The agreement is esentially that the website gofund.me will host my funding project and people would come in and put in their contributions. The website would then deduct a % as a fee and transfer the rest to my account.
Also please note I am not elligible for zakat, we are Alhumdulliah well to do but cancer treatment is unbelivably expensive without any medical coverage and would require me to sell my house.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
The following information has been listed on the gofund.me website:
How do your fees work?
GoFundMe will deduct a 5% fee from each donation you receive. WePay[1] deducts 2.9% + $0.30 per donation.[2]
Does it cost anything?
While it’s free to create and share your online fundraising campaign, GoFundMe will deduct a 5% fee from each donation that you receive. Since our fee is deducted automatically, you’ll never need to worry about being billed or owing us any money. A small processing fee of about 3% will also be deducted from each donation.[3]
The pricing details have also been specified at the following link along with specific mention of no hidden fees for penalties or not reaching your donation goal: http://www.gofundme.com/pricing
Based on our analysis, the use of GoFundMe is permissible and the money charged by GoFundMe will be regarded as an administration fee collected by GoFundMe (along with their partner WePay) for processing all transfers.[4]
It is also recommended that you add a notice for all Muslim donors that they should not donate their Zakāh money towards your campaign as you are not eligible for it.
Please note that the above ruling applies to GoFundMe specifically. We are unable to comment on the Sharī`ah compliancy of all other crowd funding schemes without analyzing the details of their procedures and terms of use.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Bilal Mohammad
Student Darul Iftaa
New Jersey, USA
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
[1] What is ‘WePay’ and what do I need to confirm?
GoFundMe has partnered with WePay to process donations to your campaign.
[“Frequently Asked Questions”, GoFund, accessed on February 26, 2015, http://www.gofundme.com/contact]
[2] “Frequently Asked Questions”, GoFund, accessed on February 26, 2015, http://www.gofundme.com/contact
[3] “Common Questions”, GoFund, accessed on February 26, 2015, http://www.gofundme.com/questions/
[4] The following transaction may be classified in one of the following ways:
1) Ijārah: The recipient makes a contract with GoFundMe to use their services for collecting money on his behalf. However, this ta’wīl has the following issues:
a) The job of GoFundMe is simply to ask for and collect money. This does not seem to be a suitable `amal (or service) to offer for ijārah. This can also be used as a hīlah for ribā’.
b) The recipient (or musta’jir) in this case is not actually paying anything as ujrah since GoFundMe themselves cut a portion of the money received through donations before the musta’jir ever has qabdah over it.
c) There is no muddah defined for this `aqd and the ujrah is majhūl as it is contingent on future collections.
وَاعْلَم ان صِحَة الاجارة مُتَعَلقَة بشيئين اعلام الاجر واعلام الْعَمَل فاذا كَانَ احدهما مَجْهُولا فالاجارة فَاسِدَة لما روى عَن النَّبِي عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاة وَالسَّلَام انه قَالَ من اسْتَأْجر اجيرا فليعلمه اجره
(النتف في الفتاوي، ج ٢، ص ٥٥٨، ايج ايم سعيد كمبني)
2) Wakālah: GoFundMe is simply a wakīl who is making qabdah on behalf of the recipient. This also does not fit well here for the following reasons:
a) In actuality, GoFundMe is acting as a wakil for the donors by dispensing their money in the avenues chosen by them and not as a wakīl for the recipient. This is apparent as GoFundMe does not consider themselves to be doing qabdah on behalf of the recipient until they first take their cut from the money of the donors. In other words, GoFundMe only transfers this money after taking a cut and then upon transfer, it is considered to be in the milkiyyah of the recipient.
b) Even if we were to assume that the initial qabdah of GoFundMe is on behalf of the recipient, then the fee charged would be counted as an ujrah for qabdah of a wakīl. In this scenario, we will run into the same issue as point “c” mentioned under the “ijārah” (i.e., no muddah has been defined). Consider the following `ibārat:
رَابِعًا : تَجُوزُ الْإِجَارَةُ لِقَبْضِ الدَّيْنِ وَالْخُصُومَةِ وَالْمُحَاكِمَةِ إذَا ذُكِرَتْ الْمُدَّةُ , أَمَّا إذَا لَمْ تُذْكَرْ مُدَّةٌ , فَلَا تَجُوزُ ( الْأَنْقِرْوِيّ ) . مَثَلًا لَوْ اسْتَأْجَرَ أَحَدٌ آخَرَ لِتَحْصِيلِ دَيْنٍ فِي ذِمَّةِ أَحَدِ النَّاسِ مِنْ دُونِ تَعْيِينِ مُدَّةٍ لِإِقَامَةِ الدَّعْوَى وَتَحْصِيلِ الدَّيْنِ فَسَدَتْ الْإِجَارَةُ . فَلَوْ اشْتَغَلَ فِي إقَامَةِ الدَّعْوَى وَتَحْصِيلِ الدَّيْنِ مُدَّةَ ثَمَانِيَةِ أَيَّامٍ , أَوْ عَشْرَةٍ وَحَصَّلَهُ وَسَلَّمَهُ إلَى الْمُسْتَأْجِرِ فَلَهُ أَجْرُ الْمِثْلِ عَلَى أَنْ لَا يَتَجَاوَزَ الْأَجْرَ الْمُسَمَّى ( عَلِيٌّ أَفَنْدِي )
(درر الحكام شرح مجلة الأحكام، ج ١، ص ٥٩٣، دار الكتب العلمية)
3) Tabarru`: This entire transaction is simply a tabarru` from the side of GoFundMe. The reason for this is as follows:
The donors make a contribution/donation to GoFundMe for a certain project. These donors are already informed that part of the donation will be used for maintenance/transfer costs; therefore, they are aware that 5-9% of the masraf of their donation will be going towards such avenues. GoFundMe then deducts this percentage and sends the rest of the donation (per the wishes of the donors) to the intended recipients. The recipient, at the end of the day, does not spend a single cent.
As long as the donors have consented to use these funds in both avenues (fee for GoFundMe/Wepay and to the recipient), it is permissible:
وكذلك لو كان الواهب هو الذي وكل وكيلا يدفعها الي الموهوب له فهو جائز. و كذلك المتصدق عليه لو وكل…و ليس لوكيل واحد من هؤلاء أن يبيع شيأ من ذلك و لا برهنه و لا يؤاجره و لا يتزوج عليه. و إن فعل سيأ من ذلك لم يجز.
(الأصل للإمام محمد، ج ١١، ص ٣٤٧، دار ابن حزم)
وهنا الوكيل إنما يستفيد التصرف من الموكل وقد أمره بالدفع إلى فلان فلا يملك الدفع إلى غيره كما لو أوصى لزيد بكذا ليس للوصي الدفع إلى غيره فتأمل
(رد المحتار علي الدر المختار، ج ٢، ص ٢٦٩، ايج ايم سعيد كمبني)
In other words, the administration fee is actually a charge on the side of the donors and not on the side of the recipient. For the recipient, he is simply receiving a free service of receiving donations from GoFundMe as a sort of tabarru` or hibah.
(قَوْلُهُ كِتَابُ الْهِبَةِ) هِيَ لُغَةً التَّفَضُّلُ عَلَى الْغَيْرِ بِمَا يَنْفَعُهُ وَلَوْ غَيْرَ مَالٍ وَاصْطِلَاحًا مَا أَشَارَ إلَيْهِ الْمُصَنِّفُ (قَوْلُهُ هِيَ تَمْلِيكُ الْعَيْنِ بِلَا عِوَضٍ) وَشَرَائِطُ صِحَّتِهَا فِي الْوَاهِبِ الْعَقْلُ وَالْبُلُوغُ وَالْمِلْكُ…وَفِي الْمَوْهُوبِ أَنْ يَكُونَ مَقْبُوضًا غَيْرَ مُشَاعٍ مُتَمَيِّزًا غَيْرَ مَشْغُولٍ عَلَى مَا سَيَأْتِي تَفْصِيلُهُ وَرُكْنُهَا هُوَ الْإِيجَابُ وَالْقَبُولُ وَحُكْمُهَا ثُبُوتُ الْمِلْكِ لِلْمَوْهُوبِ لَهُ غَيْرَ لَازِمٍ…
(قَوْلُهُ وَقَبُولٍ) أَيْ صَحَّتْ الْهِبَةُ بِالْإِيجَابِ وَالْقَبُولِ فِي حَقِّ الْمَوْهُوبِ لَهُ لِأَنَّهُ عَقْدٌ فَيَنْعَقِدُ بِهِمَا كَسَائِرِ الْعُقُودِ قَيَّدْنَا بِكَوْنِهِمَا فِي حَقِّ الْمَوْهُوبِ لَهُ لِأَنَّهَا تَصِحُّ بِالْإِيجَابِ وَحْدَهُ فِي حَقِّ الْوَاهِبِ… (قَوْلُهُ وَقَبْضٍ بِلَا إذْنٍ فِي الْمَجْلِسِ وَبَعْدَهُ بِهِ) يَعْنِي وَبَعْدَ الْمَجْلِسِ لَا بُدَّ مِنْ الْإِذْنِ صَرِيحًا فَأَفَادَ أَنَّهُ لَا بُدَّ مِنْ الْقَبْضِ فِيهَا لِثُبُوتِ الْمِلْكِ لَا لِلصِّحَّةِ وَالتَّمَكُّنُ مِنْ الْقَبْضِ كَالْقَبْضِ
(البحر الرائق، ج ٧، ص ٢٨٤-٢٨٥، ايج ايم سعيد كمبني)
أَمَّا رُكْنُ الْهِبَةِ فَهُوَ الْإِيجَابُ مِنْ الْوَاهِبِ فَأَمَّا الْقَبُولُ مِنْ الْمَوْهُوبِ لَهُ فَلَيْسَ بِرُكْنٍ اسْتِحْسَانًا… (وَجْهُ) الِاسْتِحْسَانِ أَنَّ الْهِبَةَ فِي اللُّغَةِ عِبَارَةٌ عَنْ مُجَرَّدِ إيجَابِ الْمَالِكِ مِنْ غَيْرِ شَرِيطَةِ الْقَبُولِ وَإِنَّمَا الْقَبُولُ وَالْقَبْضُ لِثُبُوتِ حُكْمِهَا لَا لِوُجُودِهَا فِي نَفْسِهَا فَإِذَا أَوْجَبَ فَقَدْ أَتَى بِالْهِبَةِ فَتَرَتَّبَ عَلَيْهَا الْأَحْكَامُ
(بدائع الصنائع، ج ٨، ص ٨٤-٨٥، دار الكتب العلمية)
وبما أن حقيقة الجائزة أنها هبة بدون مقابل، فإنها ليست من عقود المعاوضة، وإنما هي من قبيل التبرعات، فمن شروط جوازها أن تكون تبرعا من المجيز بدون أن يلتزم المجاز بدفع عوض مالي مقابل الجائزة. وعلي هذا، فالجائزة علي قسمين:
(١) الجائزة التي تمنح بدون التزام أو وعد سابق. مثل أن ينجح طالب في امتحان، فيعطي جائزة من أستاذه، أو أحد أقاربه، أو غيرهم بعد نجاحه، بدون أن يكون التزم بذلك في وعد سابق، وهذا تبرع وهبة بدون أي شك، ولا شبهة في حلتها.
٢) الجائزة التي تمنح علي أساس التزام أو وعد سابق، فيلتزم المجيز بأنه سيمنح المجاز جائزة عند وقوع واقع معين لا يدري أحد هل يقع أم لا؟ ومن شروط جوازه أن يكون تبرعا محضآ من قبل المجيز، وأن لا يشترط علي المجاز أن يدفع عوضا عن الدخول في المخاطرة، لأنه أن اشترط عليه ذلك دخل في عقود المعاوضة التي يحرم فيها الغرر والمخاطرة، ويتأتي فيها القمار
(بحوث في قضايا معاصرة، ج ٢، ص ٢٣٥، مكتبة دار العلوم كراتشي)