What do the esteemed scholars say concerning the conditions customarily imposed by founders of endowments upon their beneficiaries? Some have an evident benefit and serve a desirable purpose, while others serve no substantial purpose for the founder and may impose hardship upon the beneficiary: fulfilling them causes him difficulty, while neglecting them leaves him fearing that he is sinning and receiving what is unlawful.
Examples include the founder of a lodge or school requiring beneficiaries to spend the night there, remain unmarried, perform the obligatory prayers in the lodge, or perform a specified recitation at a particular location; or requiring them to come from a particular city or tribe, or to follow a particular school of jurisprudence. Similar conditions are imposed upon those leading prayers in mosques, giving the call to prayer, and attending hadith readings in study circles at Sufi lodges.
Are these and similar conditions—which are generally permissible and serve some slight purpose for the founder—binding, such that no one may neglect any of them? Or are some binding while others are not? Which are binding, and which are not? What is the criterion for distinguishing between them?
He replied—may Allah sanctify his soul:
Praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds. Religious activities stipulated in endowments—such as endowments for imams, muezzins, and those engaged in the pursuit of knowledge