Miscellaneous

Raising funds using videos

Q: A charity trust run under the stewardship of scholars is doing fund raising by means of video appeals in the Masjid Jamat Khana. In these videos faces of people can be seen. Ulama condone this by attending the programme in the Masjid. Is raising funds in this way permissible and is it permissible to broadcast such videos in the Masjid Jamat Khana?

Cheating and Deceiving

Q: In our college it is required that students attend 75% lectures throughout the year. But lectures waste time of students and are of no benefit. Also in lectures students mark false attendance (proxy) of their friends and the teachers themselves know this but do not cancel such attendance. As a result the honest person suffers because on record his attendance is always shown less due to some absentees for reasons as compared to majority of students who are always marked present falsely. This creates poor impression at the end of year on examiner about honest person when examiner sees that his attendance is below than others which is injustice to one who is truth. So is it permissible that I tell my friend to mark my proxy attendance bearing in mind that Allah knows that the teachers themselves are promoting this corruption, to prevent injustice to me and to save my time and instead use time to good use at home because why should I suffer for being honest when teachers themselves don’t bother and coming to class is mere waste of time?

Appointing a responsible person to be the ameer

Q: I have read a fatwa by a Mufti who said that Ibn Abideen in his Radd al Muhtaar said that those who manage the affairs of the mosques must be free of Fisq (Ie - they cannot be a Faasiq). Does the same rule apply generally? Ie - do those who are managing the affairs of the Muslims in another capacity also need to be free of fisq? For example - Can an ameer of a da'wah organisation be a Faasiq or must an 'aadil person be ameer? I was taught this but we studied a Maaliki book and I wanted to know the Hanafi position. Can I also request references inshaa Allah because I would like to incorporate this rule into our constitution.

Gelatin capsules

Q: I don't know if the capsule of my medication has gelatin so I tried to open it and I took what was inside but it was unable to go down as it induces vomiting and even hours after I feel upset even when I try to dissolve it. Is it that I would be allowed to take it with the capsule?