Can I Organise a Book Drive For My Local School?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
Book drives are when people collectively donate all their unneeded books, whether fiction, nonfiction, educational or not, to poorer schools or orphanages. I wish to organize a book drive for my school, but the fictional books donated may contain non-islamic themes.
If we focus the book drive more on educational books, then some science books may contain concepts regarding the Darwinian evolution theory. Thus, I wish to inquire if it is permissible to stage such a charity book drive at school for a poorer school or orphanage.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
It would be permissible, in fact rewarding, to stage a charity book drive to collect books for other schools and orphanages. However, the book drive should be organized under the supervision of learned scholars and educated religious people who are well aware of book genres.
Be Selective
Be selective of what you collect and donate and allow to enter the hearts and minds of children. Look for donations of Islamic books, especially those that counter modernist theories, so children have a religious worldview and can differentiate between right and wrong. It is actually our responsibility to protect them: ‘And pursue not that which you have no knowledge of; the hearing, the sight, the heart — all of those shall be questioned of.’ [Quran, 17: 36]
Best People Are Those Who Benefit Others
Jabir (Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “The believer is friendly and befriended, for there is no goodness in one who is neither friendly nor befriended. The best of people are those who are most beneficial to people.” [Tabarani, Al-Mu’jam al-Awsat]
I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction in sha Allah.
Related
- What Is the Ruling of Reading Literature with Inappropriate Content? (seekersguidance.org)
- Reading Literary Fiction – SeekersGuidance
- Lord of the Flies: The Benefits of Reading Fiction – SeekersGuidance
- #SeekersClips: What benefit lies in reading books? Explained by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani. Taken from Seekers Book Club on the Lives of Man. Trained… | By Shaykh Faraz Rabbani | Facebook (Video)
Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersAcademy (seekersguidance.org), like from the Islamic Studies Curriculum (seekersguidance.org) or Youth Islamic Studies Curriculum (seekersguidance.org), building your way up doing each course?
I pray this helps answer your question.
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied within UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.
He started his early education in UK. He went onto complete hifz of Qur’an in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in UK where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then travelled to Karachi, Pakistan.
He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.
He currently resides in UK with his wife. His personal interest is love of books and gardening.
