Conditions Concerning the Trustees of Endowments 21item Has the trustee of an endowment the right to abdicate his responsibility in favor of the Endowments Office? A person dedicated the proceeds of his property to be spent, by way of endowment, in certain charitable avenues, such as the provision of financial help to the descendants of the Prophet (s.a.w.) and holding commemorative assemblies. Now, even with the higher rate of returns from the rent of the property, some interested parties insist on offering less rent than the market price for cultural, political, social, or religious reasons or because of the unfavorable financial position of potential tenants. Has the Endowments Department the right to lease the endowment as a going concern for less than the market price? A person set aside property by way of a public endowment. According to the endowment deed, he appointed himself a trustee of the endowment and after his death his eldest son. In it, he drew up a list of duties and responsibilities to facilitate the administration of the endowment. Has the Department of Endowments the right to deprive the trustee of all his responsibilities or part thereof? The late Imam [Khomeini], may his soul rest in peace, has ruled that there can be no trustee for any masjid. Does this fatwā cover the property that forms part of the masjid itself, such as that dedicated to holding preaching sessions? Assuming that this is the case, and in recognition of the fact that many masjids have properties that are designated for charitable causes and have official trustees - who have a working relationship with the Endowments Department - is it permissible for the trustees of such endowments to abdicate their responsibility, especially in the light of the fatwā of the late Imam that stresses the fact that the trustee cannot relinquish his responsibility and should abide by the provisions laid down by the donor in the endowment deed without prejudice? In an endowment deed, some of which is private and some public, the donor has stipulated that in the event of death of the present trustee, the trusteeship should be vested in the next eldest and most competent member among the male generation for generations to come, giving preference to the first generation over the second. A person of the first generation is suitable to assume the role of trustee, yet they declined to hold the office, agreeing that his younger brother, whom they think competent, to take over. Is it permissible for the younger person to be the trustee of the endowment, especially if they can fulfill all the requirements? The owners of the properties adjacent to a masjid donated parts of their property to be annexed to the masjid with a view to extending it. After consultation with the Islamic scholars, it was agreed that a separate title deed be drawn up for the newly donated land. However, the person who built the masjid, and who is the current trustee, refused to agree to this arrangement, requesting that the donated land be noted on the title deed of the existing endowment trust. He further demanded that he should be the trustee of the entire endowment. Has he the right to demand that and is it obligatory that his demands are met? Some beneficiaries of the endowment, who deemed themselves suitable to be trustees, approached the authorized religious authority with the request to sanction their appointment to a trusteeship. The authorized religious authority did not accede to their request, as he was not impressed that they are up to the challenge. Can they still object to the appointment of the person who is more suitable to be a trustee, under the pretext that he’s younger than them? Is it permissible for all the beneficiaries of an endowment, who happened to be Muslim, to put forward to the Endowments Office the name of a non-Muslim with a view to appointing him as trustee of the endowment? If some trustees oust other trustees, is it effective? If some trustees accused one or more of the other trustees of being dishonest and insisted on discharging them, how could the issue be resolved? Should the donor appoint someone supervisor of the endowment and make it conditional that they are not discharged only by the ruler of Muslims, have they the right to resign their office? The court appointed a person to oversee the work of the trustee of an endowment who was accused of negligence in running the endowment. After the trustee had been exonerated, and since passed away, has the supervisor the right to have a say in the decisions and actions taken by the deceased trustee, especially when such decisions and actions were taken years before the appointment of the supervisor? Is it right to say that the remit of his responsibility should be confined to the period between the date of the court appointment and the date the trustee died? Since no action was taken by the court to relieve the supervisor of his responsibility after passing judgment proving the innocence of the trustee, should he relinquish his responsibility from the date of the judgment, or should this hinge on the order of the court? The appointed trustee of an endowment was found to be negligent and irresponsible. Is it permissible to discharge them and appoint someone else in their place? Is it permissible for the trustee who has been appointed by the donor of the endowment or the judge to be remunerated for the services he is rendering and can he pay someone else who is doing the work on his behalf? A court ordered that another person, beside the official trustee, be appointed to oversee the administration of the endowment. Is it permissible for the official trustee provided that he is authorized, to appoint his successor without consulting the person who has been appointed by the court? 12