tl;dr It's easy to close our eyes and give fi sabil liLlah, but with the increase of donor fatigue, we should pay closer attention to whom we give our money, and to what cause.

We've heard of the stories: masjid washrooms need to be renovated and they're collecting funds for half a decade. Ramadan donation targets reach a few million, but the masjid is still falling apart with no plans for repairs in sight. Give money to masjids for several years to build a new location, but it's stalled for [insert board-driven excuse here] and the money is [insert generic location here]. This is all to say that donor funds should have more transparency.

This is not necessarily a deliberate mismanagement of funds, and these issues aren't universal to all masajid, however apparent these archetypes may be. There are certainly masajid that are very strict with how they manage funds, and very transparent - Allah bless them. But after going to different Jummah prayers across North America, I'd hear the same thing:

Please donate generously. We operate off of your donations.

It eventually dawned on me that my contributions were primarily keeping the lights on rather than building real sustainable futures. In that sense, many masajid function less like community engines and more like financial black holes. They need more and more money, and the ROI is often very limited. This isn't to negate the Divine command for charity. However, I'd argue giving money to an institution where my money has limited transience is not a good investment - in this life or the next. My money is better suited to something like an Islamic school that enriches the next generation, or a women's shelter protecting vulnerable women from potentially fatal abuse [Check out SacredHand].

وَمَا تُنفِقُوا۟ مِنْ خَيْرٍۢ فَلِأَنفُسِكُمْ ۚ

Whatever you ˹believers˺ spend in charity, it is for your own good. Al-Baqarah (2:272)

I've long since stopped donating directly to masajid, especially those that only run on charity, and even directly to non-profits who have large marketing budgets - this is a longer conversation I'll address in the coming weeks. Charity is a spiritual investment - the Prophet ﷺ assured us it does not decrease our wealth - but we often suspend our critical faculties when our funds go to a non-profit or to an organization that accepts zakat. This issue is magnified by what we can understand as donor fatigue - an issue becoming more and more prevalent as more non-profits ask for more charity for an ever-increasing number of humanitarian crises.

If we are to move to a sustainable future, we should seriously re-evaluate where we spend, and how we spend fi sabil liLLah, and do so with the same rigor as an investment asking for financial reports, audit trails, clear ROIs, the allocation of every dollar spent. Ideally, we move towards the waqf (endowment) system, but that is a discussion for a future issue insha Allah.

With Peace,

Junaid

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Assalamu Alaikum Dear Reader,

tl;dr The consequences of engaging with what Allah has prohibited are sometimes severe and immediate but sometimes delayed. Make a sincere intention to leave the prohibited.

We might ask ourselves why our businesses struggle when we should be set-up for success, or why we watch our relationships crumble. Our first impulse is to look technical reasons - delays, blockers, budget etc - but rarely do we look for the spiritual ones.

I know someone who bought a house on a mortgage. He attributed a failed marriage to that. Another brother opened a restaurant and sold alcohol. Same story. Another brother was involved in business with Riba (usury) and thus spent a great deal of energy wrestling with the spiritual consequences. I could continue on and on about the pattern of someone who upon engaging in prohibited things in business is dealing with the spiritual consequences. These consequences often manifest materially.

Note: In simple terms, riba is trading 'like for like'. I give you $5 today, you give me $6 tomorrow with the additional $1 generated purely because of that exchange of money with no other exchange of goods or services.

When speaking about riba, Allah says:

فَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلُوا۟ فَأْذَنُوا۟ بِحَرْبٍۢ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ

If you do not [leave Riba], then beware of a war with Allah and His Messenger -The Cow (2:279).

What's this war? It's trials, tribulations, internal restlessness, loss of blessings in one's sustenance. Suffering, challenges in family life, relationships, health. Allah's mercy for Muslims is that they face their punishments in this life rather than the next. His infinite love for us is that He purifies us through the tribulations in this life so we don't have to face it in the next. The same could be said for selling alcohol, pork, and gambling. Allah has commanded us to avoid all of them.

The question then becomes: how do we know if an experience is a punishment or a test? The answer lies in whether the experience serves to draw us nearer to our Creator or acts as a veil between us. If you remember Allah more and draw nearer to Him through increased adherence to the Prophetic Sunnah, it is a refining tribulation. However, if you remember Allah less and find your adherence to the Sunnah slipping, it is a punishment.

I use the term "experience" because worldly gifts can become punishments in disguise if they end up exclusively turning you from away Allah. You could, for example, marry someone you believe is better than "sliced bread." But if, in the process, you forget Allah - if this person's existence begins to occupy every spare room in your head that you evict your commitment to good manners, prayer, fasting, and charity, effectively trading your devotion for a love interest, then that material gift is a punishment.

The takeaway: ask yourselves where you may be engaged with riba, and make a sincere intention to remove it from your life. Just an intention. Do the same with alcohol or pork. Make a sincere intention, turn your heart towards Allah and commit yourself to just the thought of removing it from you life, but don't get distracted with the resulting material benefits (read: money). Our neighbours might have great material success as they swim in riba, sell alcohol, or live at the race-track, but it's all a distraction from our purpose:

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ

I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me - The Winnowing Winds (51:56)

With Peace,

Junaid

P.S. If you found this of benefit, please pass it along. Feel free to reply for comments, feedback, concerns, or for a specific topic you'd like to see in a future issue.

Assalamu Alaikum Dear Reader

tl;dr - This one is stories about dishonest Muslims. We need to stop making excuses and start reclaiming the Prophetic standard of honesty.

My father told me a story about someone they did business with during his time volunteering for a non-profit organisation. This brother was trusted with some funds but without any oversight. He was later caught writing expenses to a company under his relative's name, then pocketing the money. "He has a beard and [looks the part], but he cheated Muslims out of their money." Unfortunately, this wasn't his first rodeo nor was it his last. He cautioned me about starting Musawwif out of concern that I'd run into numerous Muslims running similar cheating scams and either fail miserably, or be extraordinarily disappointed about the lack of financial integrity that runs rampant in our community.

A family friend advised me the same. He told me of someone he knows at the masjid who prays regularly in the first row. He delivered for this brother a service to the full extent required, but the brother never paid the invoice because "he just didn't like the service." He cautioned, like my father, that Muslims can be devoid of any moral integrity when it comes to finances. Another uncle I know from the masjid buys and sells some used merchandise and expressed that there's some Muslims who undercut and lie about their product so much so that he now trusts the 'white man' more than a Muslim. A comment I will never forget,

"Brother Brother" is a sure sign you're about to get [cheated]

Sure, let's give 70 excuses. This is a behaviour present in an older generation; many of whom escaped war-torn or impoverished countries and brought with them the mentality of 'stealing is fine if you're starving' - not that it's justified to do so; but we should move past this mindset. Fortunately, we don't live in a place of civil unrest so we don't have to resort to theft. In fact, the scarcity mindset itself - even if we live in material poverty - is not a praiseworthy trait. An axiom one of my teachers repeats should make this clear:

الشك في الرزق شك في الرازق

Doubt in the provisions is doubt in the Provider

Before revelation came down, The Best of Creation ﷺ was known as Al-Sadiq, the voraciously truthful, and Al-Amin, the trustworthy. No doubt some of us resemble these noble qualities. In fact, it's likely that overwhelming majority of Muslims are sincere, honest, and hard-working, and resemble the Prophetic character rather than those who don't. It's an understated relief engaging in business with trustworthy people because they often care more for our material success. These are the types of relationships that bear fruit year after year, transaction after transaction. This repeated increase is where you'll find Barakah - blessings in business.

There are far reaching consequences from dishonest business dealings. The rizq becomes impure, and what comes out from us becomes impure. Impure thoughts will invade our minds, impure actions will come as a result. We might become oppressors in our own homes affecting the safety and stability of our spouses, our children. This extends to the micro-communities and our societies. We don't need to be scholars of Islam to be honest in our business dealings. The dividends from being honest only multiply indefinitely.

Be honest. Be trustworthy. Be like Muhammad ﷺ.

With Peace,

Junaid Siddiqui

P.S. We’re building a community of people committed to these standards. If you know a business owner, accountant, or professional who is tired of the "Brother Brother" dynamic and wants to build an ecosystem of sidq and amaan, feel free to forward this letter.

tl;dr we should pay attention to what we consume from our business transactions and what we actually eat.

Are we honest when we buy & sell? Are we using riba (interest) in our dealings? Are we hiding defects of something we sell? Do we sell alcohol, pork or lottery tickets? Are we cutting corners in our services? Is the meat we eat questionable in how it's slaughtered? Many questions that can be left to the future, but in this one I wanted to tell you a story about the inspiration of this newsletter and of Musawwif.

This first class I had with one of my dearest teachers focused on the question: how does one attain proximity to Allah? What I took from that lesson was the source of inspiration for starting this newsletter. Unlike many explorations of the topic which in my experience all default to ~vibes~ or generic messaging, he gave us concrete steps to this goal, which are summarized by the Ayah:

ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَكُونُوا۟ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ

"Fear Allah and be with the voraciously truthful."

The second part of the ayah has to do with companionship, and the well-known narration of the Messenger ﷺ,

الرجل على دين خليله، فلينظر أحدكم من يخالل‏

A man is on the religion of his friend, so discern whoemever you take as a friend.

I'm sure most of us are familiar with the implications of this narration so I won't spend more time on this.

The first part of the ayah, however, is more subtle. I heard a family friend ask the question, "Can you increase in taqwa?" and though the answer is a definitive yes, the how isn't as obvious. Increasing in taqwa is very much possible and not something exclusive to people born in the right family, or in the right environments, or some stroke of luck - it's a path available to anyone willing to try. Our teacher explained for us the aphorism:

اتَّقِ ٱللهَ فِي ٱلْفَاحِشَةِ جُمْلَةً وَّ تَفْصِيْلًا

“Be wholly and particularly conscious of Allah regarding indecency.”

Commonly translated as "God-weariness" or "God-consciousness" with relation to fearing God, practically it is that God finds you where He commands you to be and you’re not where He commands you not to be. The foundation for taqwa is learning what these commands and prohibitions are. Something much easier to digest (pun-intended) is focusing on what we consume.

Whoever eats pure will obey Allah whether he wants to or not. Whoever eats impure will disobey Allah whether he wants to or not.

Eating pure or impure touches two things: our business dealings, and the actual food we consume. The inspiration for this newsletter, and this initiative came about from this principle and is foundational for many of the issues we face in ourselves, our homes, relationships, families, and more - the types of problems where we dig ourselves deeper and deeper into trouble rather than the types that earn us proximity to Allah.

As I don't want to lengthen this letter for longer than my own attention-span, I will leave you, dear reader, with just one thing to takeaway. Avoid Riba. Avoid selling alcohol, pork, lottery tickets. Avoid lying about merchandise. Hopefully you aren't involved with these directly, but if you know someone who is, pray for them first, then (shamelessly) plug this newsletter to them so we can work on something together. We've been bogged down by the institutions around us that are unified in destroying us. Sure, unity is an easy answer to give, but how am I supposed to trust the brother next to me when "the uncle with a long beard, praying first row at Fajr who steals money from Muslims" has become an archetype?

Allah bless you, and help us all.
With Peace,

Junaid Siddiqui

P.S.

Feel free to reply for comments, feedback, concerns etc. Would love to hear back from you and have some fruitful dialogue insha Allah.