Endowment: Using Accumulated Endowment Funds When Delivery to the Named Beneficiary Is Impossible

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Endowment: Using Accumulated Endowment Funds When Delivery to the Named Beneficiary Is Impossible

English:

Question #2066:

For many years now, it has not been possible to send the proceeds of an endowment to the beneficiary — an Islamic seminary in a particular city. Substantial amounts have since accrued. Is it permissible to spend the proceeds on other Islamic seminaries in other cities? Or we must keep them until it is possible to be spent according to the endowment deed.

Answer #2066:

The duty of the shar‘ī trustee or the Endowments Authority is to collect the proceeds of the endowment and spend the same in the avenues specified in the endowment deed. However, if, temporarily, it is not feasible to send the money to the city where it should be spent, it has to be kept until such a time comes when it would be possible to send it to its intended destination. If it becomes impossible to send the proceeds to the Islamic seminary designated in the endowment deed, even in the near future, there is no objection to spending it on the Islamic seminaries in other regions.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Endowments