Ramadhaan is on our doorstep. With the dawn of Ramadhan comes the advent of Bogus Collectors. The following is a letter of warning and alert issued by the Islamic Watchdog Movement of Durban:
RE: Bogus Collector Alert!!!
As it is known, all enquiries made by the IWM are based on queries received from the public. Similarly we received numerous queries from business owners in the Overport area, pertaining to a Brother named Yusuf Makura, who was collecting funds on behalf of the Pinetown Muslim Jamaat.
The IWM team managed to track down Brother Yusuf who initially denied all allegations, he stated that the business owners who contacted the IWM have falsely accused him as he does not collect funds of any sort from the public. When presented with video evidence of his actions, he then asked for maaf and admitted his faults. Brother Yusuf presented us with pictures and the LOR that he used to entice vulnerable Muslims into funding his operations. Under the guise of collecting funds for widows, orphans, Madressas, Musjids, etc, Brother Yusuf would usurp those funds for personal use. Additionally Brother Yusuf admitted that the LOR was fake, he had paid an individual R500 to produce this document that claims to be an official letter from the Sunni Ulama Council, and signatures of their Ulama were forged to ‘authenticate’ the document.
Please note that the Pinetown Muslim Jamaat does not exist. If you have discharged your Zakaah to Brother Yusuf, your Zakaah requirements remain unfulfilled and should be re-discharged. We make sincere dua that Brother Yusuf finds Hidaayah and sincerely repents for his sins, and we’ve handed this matter to the Sunni Ulama Council for their intervention.
With Ramadaan around the corner, many collectors will surface. The IWM team is available to verify any organization or collector, kindly contact Brother Mohammed Mall on 0659829162. Be wary of who you entrust your charities to.
(End of letter)
People who contribute to such roving collectors are real morons. Now they have to again pay their Zakaat. Many scoundrel BOGUS collectors mushroom during Ramadhaan.
Our advice is: Even if collectors have valid testimonials from reliable bodies, do advise them to remain in their hometowns and not to wander around the country collecting funds. Advise them to work within the limits of the funds which become available honourably. They should only inform the community of their projects without disgracing themselves going from door to door begging. And the worst scoundrels and frauds collecting funds are some ‘maulanas’ and ‘muftis’ who operate under ‘madrasah’ fronts.
They are allowed to only inform the community and to make dua. They are not permitted to undertake journeys to collect funds. Huge amounts collected by these scoundrels from moron businessmen are squandered and embezzled for personal projects.
DON’T CONTRIBUTE FUNDS TO DOOR TO DOOR COLLECTORS!
2 Sha’baan 1443 – 5 March 2022