Financial Independence in Daʿwah

Finally, daʿwah needs to be financially independent. When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told Abū Bakr that he had been given permission to make hijrah, and Abū Bakr told him, "I will join you and be your companion," Abū Bakr told Muḥammad (peace be upon him), "Here are two camels for hijrah." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, bi-thaman — he is going to take the camel and pay for it. So it is important for daʿwah to be financially independent, because what happens is that when a scholar is on the government payroll, there is a conflict of interest when that scholar is giving a fatwā on any issue that relates to the government. When the government is feeding a scholar, that scholar will be hesitant to criticize the government, and there is a clear conflict of interest in any fatwā that relates to politics or relates to issues that upset the government. And that is why, for example, there are issues such as scholars giving fatwā that it is allowed to have interest banks, banks that deal with the interest system rather than Islamic banks. This is, for example, a fatwā that was forced upon a scholar, or a scholar said it to please the government. That is just an example. So it is important for daʿwah, scholars and preachers who invite to Islam, to be financially independent.