Tribalism Amongst Muslims

QUESTION:

There is a local charity which has been running for several years now. Unfortunately, due to the nature of people, the charity has had serious issues recently.

One of the issues that have arisen is that a senior scholar claims that because a certain ethnic group started the charity and raised the majority of funds during its beginning stages, it is now incumbent upon the charity to ensure that it governed by trustees from that ethnicity only. The exact phrase used was, “It is a Shari’ responsibility for the trustees to be from a (specific) background”.

This charity is a very multicultural one with many of the beneficiaries of the said charity being from backgrounds other than the one that this scholar is claiming should be in charge. The charity was established for all people not limited to their ethnicity, and yes, whilst the fundraising may have been primarily done in one specific community, many donors were not from that community at all. As a matter of fact, at this point in time, the majority of donors are from entirely different backgrounds.

Is there any validation to such a claim?

ANSWER:

In the light of Shariah, there is no such thing that people from a certain ethnic background have preference over the other.

In Deen, the benchmark is piety as Allah Ta’ala states in the Quraan Majeed:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

[ الحجرات: 13]

“O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honourable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has the most amount of piety. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.”

Hence, in the queried scenario it is not incumbent that the trustees hail from a certain ethnicity. What is important is that the trustees who are appointed to run the aforementioned charitable organization should be pious, upright, trustworthy and prudent, irrespective of their ethnic background or colour.

ALLAH TA’ALA ALONE IN HIS INFINITE KNOWLEDGE KNOWS BEST!

ANSWERED BY:

Mufti Abdul Kader Fazlani

Date: 05 Rajab 1447 / 26 December 2025

CHECKED AND APPROVED BY:

Mufti Yacoob Vally Saheb