Mufti Menk – Why PAY for Events – The Truth – Unplugged

			Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah. We are leaving Accra, Ghana, on our way to Dubai, I'm in the lounge at
the airport. We've done everything just waiting for the plane, and inshallah we'll be boarding soon.
I want to let you know something the peace and unity convention was a success here in Ghana, in the
two cities, Accra and the other city, Kumasi. Now, these events come at a cost they, it's not free,
because you have to hire the venue, you have to have volunteers, you have to have the sound you have
to arrange the lighting the recording, you have to do logistics, you have to
		

			decorate the place so to speak, arrange, some of it costs a little bit more, some cost less.
Sometimes the venues are costly, sometimes they're not. It's not easy to always have these events at
the masjid but what we try to do is to have a few different types of events. Number one is the
masjid events. So if a program is done in the masjid, it doesn't really cost that much because
		

			what you would probably need to pay for is the sound and the videos, the recordings and so on. But
		

			you wouldn't have to pay for the venue because the masjid is the house of Allah. However, not
everyone comes to the masjid in terms of the females especially and the non Muslims and sometimes
people who are not connected to the masjid. So if your Dawa in your your message is reaching out to
all the people who are far from the Dean, or maybe not Muslims as well, you need to consider having
it at a different venue. So we did have the one program at the massive national Masjid which caters
for more than, you know, between five and 7000 people. And with the courtyards, I'm sure it's even
more than that in Accra, and then we had the one at the central mosque in Kumasi, which also had a
		

			few 1000 People all that was open it was full and mashallah, it was a little bit of stampeding a bit
of excitement and so on. But it was it was basically cost free. Obviously, the flights and
everything costs a lot of money.
		

			Personally, I don't charge I haven't charged a penny, not a penny. But some others, they expect you
to do a little bit. And so on the team that I moved with, they're all working visa Belinda. So we
really must thank Allah that there are so many who will tell you listen, I don't charge a penny. In
fact, sometimes people are surprised that Oh, you don't charge a penny. No, I don't. Sometimes
people give you a gift or two or three, it depends. You may take it and you might want to give it to
someone else or use it or whatever it may be, but for to ask for something.
		

			No, that doesn't happen with me. Sometimes we even cover the costs ourselves of some of these
events. So we would cover the airfare sometimes even the venue's sometimes we've covered venues and
entire events. And all of that is not known by the people. But the reason I'm telling you is because
many people accused the scholars oh, these people are making money out of this. No way. Allah has
blessed us in other ways. We don't need to use this to make money. May Allah subhanahu wata Allah
grant us, goodness. However, what I also want to say is there are other types of events such as the
motivational evenings where there is a dinner with a smaller number of people and we have to charge
		

			for the food, I'm not going to pay for your food, nor am I going to pay for something that you're
going to get in terms of service when you can afford it. So you pay for the food, you will you will
the cost of the venue will be divided by the people if there is a cost of the venue. So it will
probably be $10 $20 $30 $40 depending on what exactly it is. The difficulty is to try and cater for
everyone. So if there is an a motivational evening, they would be attentive, there will be a smaller
number of people, we try to meet everyone. The reason is, when there is a large crowd, it's
impossible to meet people this time when we had a large crowd of a few 1000. They randomly picked a
		

			few people from a hat to say, we would just pick randomly people who would like to meet, for
example, some of the scholars, and we give you an opportunity because it's unfair to say only the
VIPs can meet only so what about the general public, we also need to meet them. So that's one thing,
taking photos I don't normally refuse. But what would happen is, it's impossible to cater for
everyone. So you need to be very quick and considerate. If you're not quick and considerate, don't
waste your time as saying Can I take a photo then you want us to pose as though we're posing for
some heavy photo shoot or something you take a quick picture and move and people wouldn't mind or
		

			you can take a quick video while we're walking without stopping us.
		

			That having been said another type of a program is the ones that are handled in halls or in theaters
or in conference centers. It costs a lot
		

			Very few wealthy people are prepared to give money or to donate towards events of a spiritual nature
of the sort. So if you go to a very wealthy person and you say this cost 70,000, if he's a really
great person, they might give you 5000 7000. I don't do this. But some of the people who are the
hosts, they have to go to donors and ask for sponsorship and say, Can you sponsor can you sponsor, I
do know that in some countries, it's a bit better than others. But in some of the poorer countries,
it's a struggle, they don't even break even, we end up giving our own monies at times to ensure that
a program has been a success. And so there is a venue, they have 2000 5000 tickets, depending the
		

			ticket is token and the reason why it is an honor to be used to spend money to such a good cause.
Everyone who purchase a ticket, don't come and say it's too much or too little, you are considered a
sponsor to that particular event, you will get a reward for coming and making it possible because if
you didn't buy a ticket, they would not have been able to afford the venue in some cases. So you
bought a ticket and you came another 5000 10,000 People bought tickets and came that is what made it
possible had you not bought the ticket, it wouldn't have happened. So anyway, as we leave Ghana
right now, I just want to pray for all those who made this possible. May Allah bless you, grant your
		

			goodness and ease give you a million times more than what you gave. And may Allah open your doors,
your family members, grant you good health, happiness, great prosperity, sustenance, joy in this
world, is all your issues, difficulties and problems protect you from harm, sickness, disease,
illness, negativity, and may Allah Almighty elevate your status in this world in the next and
continue to use you to to be inspired to spend on causes like this, because Allah chooses whom he
wants to sponsor events that are life changing for people, it is not easy to think about spending
money on an event where you are not a material beneficiary, but rather, it's a spiritual religious
		

			benefit of rewards that you will see in the Hereafter, which is far greater than what you saw in
this world. But
		

			you would actually be changing the lives or used to change the lives of 1000s of people. For that
Allah needs to put it in your heart. It's not. I've seen wealthy people who laugh at our projects,
who laugh and joke and scoff at what we try to tell them needs to be done. They want it is only when
Allah has selected you, and put it in your heart that I've made a million. I'd like to give 50,000
for these guys to make a beautiful, massive, lovely, amazing event. Why do people of other faiths
have events that are five star events, we are Muslims, we need to have 10 Star events, why not?
Those people give 10% of their salaries to the church. In Islam. We don't have to do that. Islam.
		

			Zakat is only for the rich, to be given to the poor. And that's also a minut percentage and you do
not have to go through your Imam of the masjid or an organization. That's the difference. So when
there is a cause of this nature, it's charity. It's just a sadaqa. Please give.
		

			Did you hear all those two hours? May Allah accept them? Everyone praise for those who make it
possible? I'd love to see free events totally free. But it's impossible to make it totally free.
People need to know listen, they spent on me. Why should we spend on you when you're a relatively
well to do person or middle income or whatever it may be you prepared to spend on so many other
things come let's spend on this. And don't think that chefs are making money in actual fact they
spend in order for the message to get to you. I asked you who are listening to me right now, how
much have how much have I taken from you personally nothing. I haven't asked you for a penny
		

			personally, if ever you've paid for a ticket, it's for something you got. I remember the
motivational dinners in England when they were paying 20 pounds, sometimes 30 pounds. And so what
people were saying some people, two three people saying Oh, that's so so high in price Wallahi that
food that was being served alone was already 40 pound 50 pounds, you didn't know it's subsidized.
What you got is far more in terms of worth and value than what you gave. So don't complain about
this. This is how these events work. And this is how it happens. And don't say well why you should
have all your events at the masjid. No, you want to attend only the masjid once you wait for them.
		

			You need to know the difference between all of them. So if you'd like to attend a specific type of
event, don't think for a moment that we should not be doing the other events we are catering for
other people, different types of people who are impacted by different types of events. I know of
people who flown in from far off countries in order to attend a certain type of event. For example,
if you have a Light upon light event, it's different. You have a motivational evening it's different
you have for example,
		

			A few other types of events you need to know what is it and how is it you have a charity fundraiser?
Consider it consider it a an honor to be able to give if you want, no one's forcing you, but they
will tell you the cause. And you can give and if others are giving, so what Alhamdulillah the
charity, it doesn't come to the scholar in all honesty, they may be some who charge but the circles
that I move with, they do not charge and it's actually something free. We should be ashamed of
ourselves when we accuse scholars of oh, this person's making money. What do they make money from? I
mean, what did you give? You're such a wealthy person you've got so much money What did you give
		

			this guy? Nothing and then you're complaining that he's making money out of what out of what they've
spent on you more money than you gave? Sorry, I'm a little bit passionate. But the reason why I'm
saying this is so many people have so many negative things to say at times. Someone somewhere needed
to clarify we spend on you, you do not spend on us. Does that sound Santa Monica?