['Aalim Network QR] Prosecution through the legal system

["Akil M. Karim" <amk@ican.net>]

________________________________________________________________________
|                          w           w     w                          |\
|                           ||          ||   | ||                       |\
|                    o_,_7 _||  . _o_7 _|| 4_|_||  o_w_,                |\
|                   ( :   /    (_)    /           (   .                 |\
|                                                                       |\
|           ||  ||         |  ||   |T              |     | ||    |      |\
|   . _, _8 |_D_|| . _,_,_,_D_|| 4_|| q ]_o_7_o   _|_c 4_|_||   _|,_p q |\
|  (_): /         (_): . :            /        (_S           (_S      / |\
|                                                                       |\
|       In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the All-Merciful       |\
|  Greeting of Allah be upon Muhammad and the pure members of his House |\
|_______________________________________________________________________|\
Salaamun 'Alaykum

The following question was kindly answered by Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi.


Fee Amaanillah,

Akil Karim
Moderator - 'Aalim Network

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

QUESTION:

We would like to ask your advice in relation to a current problem being
faced in our community. Our previous executive committee has
misappropriated funds belonging to
our Mosque. They feel that are not accountable for their actions to the
current committee . Enough evidence has been found giving us a strong case
for "FRAUD". Could you please advise on the correct Islamic procedure in a
Western Society. 

ARE WE ALLOWED TO PROSECUTE AS THIS IS OVER TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF
THE COMMUNITY'S MONEY? We do however understand that the law of the country
prevails.


ANSWER:

First of all, any such dispute within the community should be settled
within ourselves. You must try to involve respectable members of the
community as arbiters to solve this problem; or even get other influence
Shi'a organization in your country involved in this dispute.

If the persons and institutions within the community cannot solve the
problem, then you are allowed to prosecute them through the legal system of
the country in which you are living. But before you do that, you must
evaluate the loss of respect for the community vis-a-vis the amount of
money alledgedly misappropriated by the people mentioned in your question.

Yours in Islam,

Sayyid M. Rizvi