For these works are, by their very nature, a means of drawing closer to Allah, and taking a wage for them removes them from that status.

However, it is permissible to receive a stipend from the Bayt al-Mal (public treasury) for services whose benefit reaches others—such as leading the pilgrimage, making the call to prayer, serving as imam, teaching the Qur’an and jurisprudence, judging disputes, and issuing legal opinions—because this is not a commercial exchange but rather material support for obedience. Such payment does not strip the act of its devotional character, nor does it compromise sincerity.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—said: “The jurists unanimously distinguish between hiring someone to perform devotional acts and granting the people who perform them a stipend. The stipends of combatants, judges, callers to prayer, and imams are permissible without dispute, whereas hiring them for these acts is impermissible according to most of them.”

He also said: “Whatever is taken from the Bayt al-Mal is not compensation or wages; it is a stipend that helps one obey Allah. Whoever performs the work for Allah’s sake will be rewarded, and what he receives is merely provision to aid him in obedience.”

Obligations of the lessor and the lessee:

• The lessor must provide everything necessary for the lessee to benefit from the leased item—for example, repairing a rented car and preparing it for transport and travel, maintaining a leased house, fixing any structural damage, and ensuring that its utilities are ready for use.

• When the lease ends, the lessee must remove whatever alterations he himself has introduced.

• The lease is a binding contract on both parties—the lessor and the lessee—because it