Yasir Qadhi – Can I Claim Tax Exemption for My Charity-Ask Shaykh YQ #156

			Brother Sha hid from the state of Iowa emails. And he says that, is it allowed to claim your charity
as tax deductions in the end of the fiscal year? And if one does so, then does it diminish the
reward of the charity?
		

			One
		

			out of seven
		

			poverty in the region? No, he him first.
		

			Kidding King?
		

			So this is a very good question. And it deals with
		

			the the notion of so here in America, for those of you that are watching from other countries, here
in America, the IRS or the Internal Revenue Service, which is what we pay our taxes to, that it
allows any contribution to a registered charity to diminish your taxes up to a certain percentage,
right. So if you give, you know, X amount to a registered charity, you can claim that X amount, and
you will get y amount credit. And that y amount credit will be deducted from your taxes. So instead
of paying $1,000, in taxes, you will pay 1000 minus y. So it'll deduce. So basically, you you you
pay, you pay your charity, you give some charity, and you also get some tax deduction bonus, which
		

			will save you some money. So our brother is asking that is this halal in Islam? And number two, if
it is halal, does it diminish the reward of the charity given? So? So very good question. And the
response is as follows that, let me rephrase the question. Can you do a good deed for the sake of a
worldly benefit? Can you do a good deed for the sake of a worldly better? Because in reality, you're
paying $1,000 in let's say, is that got and you might get, I mean, you know, depending on your tax
bracket, everything you might get 300 $200 basically written off, you know, of that amount in your
final in your final, you know, tax amount that you give. So, can you give that $1,000 and intend as
		

			well, that, hey, I'm gonna get you know, two $300 taken off with my taxes, get a double whammy, get
a win win situation. The response is that in our religion, we thank Allah subhanho wa Taala, that
you are allowed to do a good deed for the sake of a financial benefit as long as you have the
intention to please Allah. So the intention to please Allah and the financial benefit is something
that is permissible. What is impermissible is the intention to please Allah and the intention to
impress another human being. If you combine those two, this constitutes minor shear, and the deed
shall be rejected. So if you stand up to pray, and your need is for Allah subhana wa Tada, but
		

			you're seeing the people around you and you want to impress them that I'm praying a good signer,
that sila now becomes tainted by showing off and that will be rejected by Allah subhanho wa Taala as
a minor ship as a minor ship. So, this is something that is completely not allowed, you give charity
and you give $1,000 to the orphanage, but you want to impress the people, the names are being
announced. So and so has given and you know, yes, it has given $1,000 Oh, and you feel Yes, that's
why I wanted to give I wanted the people to know I gave $1,000 those people who do that, it will be
rejected. Our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that Allah subhana wa tada says, I am the
		

			least of all beings who needs to be associated with anyone. So anyone who associates me along with
another person, I leave the good deed to that other person, and he can give the reward to that
person. So, Allah subhanho wa Taala does not accept any deed that is done with the intention of
pleasing another entity other than a lot. However, in the laws, mercy, a law has allowed a good deed
that is done with the intention not to please another entity, but to gain financial reward for
ourselves. That is a concession given, it's not the default. It is a concession. And there are many,
many evidences for this of them is the famous Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in
		

			which he says that the most important or the most rightful salary that anybody can get the most
		

			rightful earnings that you can get is for teaching somebody the Quran. So you pay somebody to teach
yourself or your child to hold on the prophets. So we're saying that earning it is the most blessed
and the most rightful the most important salary is the Quran teacher. Okay. Now the Oregon teacher,
is he not doing an action of worship to teach somebody the Quran? Yes. But you see if we stopped
paying Quran teachers who would teach our kids we thank Allah that Allah subhana wa tada has allowed
religious work to be done for a stipend. But the knee yeah has to be for Allah. And then also Yes,
for this type of no problem. And also, for example, Allah says in the Quran,
		

			ladies and gentlemen, that there is no harm upon you for seeking
		

			risk from Allah during the Hajj. Okay, so when you go for Hajj, there is no sin on you, if you want
to do a business as well, meaning what? So in those days, the Hydra was a long journey, as you know.
		

			And people would come from all over the world as they still do, you know, in the days of Hajj. And
so it's the ideal place to have a market of bizarre. And so what they would do is that, after the
days of hedge, they would have a massive bazaar in Minar. And you would have merchants, you know,
from Uzbekistan, and merchants from Morocco and merchants from under loosened merchants from Syria
and merchants from you know, Yemen, all of them are trading goods and it's the ideal international
marketplace in bizarre What better, you know, time and place to do that right after hide you have a
whole week or two of bazaars. And Allah subhanho wa Taala says, There is no sin on you. Because
		

			here's the point. Suppose you're a merchant, suppose you're a seller of hides and tans or you're a
honey, you know, merchant, and you're going for hedge. Now you tell me, what did it come in your
mind, hey, I can take my furs, my skins, my honey, and I can travel all the way to Makkah, and there
will be 10s of 1000s of people from around the world. And I can make some money and charge a higher
price because back home, this is a dime a dozen. But over there, I'm the only merchant you know from
bajada selling this for example, right? I'm the only you know, jewel merchant from from Uzbekistan,
I'm the only, you know, Moroccan cheaper or firm. And so he has the intention, I'm going to go for
		

			Hajj and then I'm also going to do a business. Okay, what is to be done now? Is it allowed to go go
for Hajj and also do a business and a lot explicitly says in the Quran? There is no sin on you. If
you desire money from Allah during the Hajj? No, this isn't the Han Solo Bukhara look it up yourself
Surah Baqarah. So based on this dear brother in Islam, there is no sin in giving a charitable
donation. And you know full well that you will declare it with the IRS and you will get a tax
deduction. And you will therefore gain some benefit, you know, in that regard. Now, so therefore,
there's no sin whatsoever. And anybody who says otherwise, frankly, speaking without knowledge to be
		

			gentle here, he's speaking completely without knowledge. Now, the question arises, and you ask this
question, does it diminish the reward of the charity? And the response is that that is dependent
upon your intention. If your intention is 100%, you know, for that charity that you are doing, and
then you declare it and you realize it's a benefit that Allah is giving you, then your reward is
100%. And if your intention is, you know, 8020 or 7030, well, then the reward will be based upon
your intention in the most amount of money yet, okay? So there are people, non Muslims, they don't
believe in the hero, they don't believe in a higher power and they still give charity for tax
		

			deduction purposes. Clearly, they will have zero reward because they had zero intention, inshallah
Muslim can never get to that level. But it is possible that a Muslim primarily gives for the tax
deduction purposes. And incidentally, for some reward, therefore, for that person, the rewards will
be according to that sincerity that he had. And there are others that the tax deduction is
incidental. It's not even something that motivates them. It's not there, it doesn't matter. But they
realize if I give you know I can declare it at the end of the year and when the time comes, they
just figure out and they calculate and whatnot, and inshallah they will get 100% of the reward, the
		

			claim or the notion of not deducting from your taxes, thinking Allah should reward you. That's not
technically correct.
		

			You if you did it for the sake of a loss sincerely, then you shall be rewarded 100% sincerely and to
declare it at the end as a tax deduction or whatever.
		

			Not that will not diminish the sincerity as long as you are sincere in the beginning. So I hope that
that answers your question and that you do continue to give lots and lots of charity and continue to
claim your exemptions from Uncle Sam. And with that in shallow data, we come to the conclusion of
today's q&a. Until next time, saramonic mama to lie over a couch