Clerics charging exorbitant rates for their services

LAHORE – At the beginning of the sacred month of Muharram, a month of sorrow and grief, Maulana Fida Hussain Hafizabadi of Muridke gets very busy. He does not even have time for his close relatives and had to ask his son-in-law to wait until the end of April to see him.
Hafizabadi is not the sole example of such a pressing schedule, as hundreds of clerics from various sects travel across the country during the months of Muharram, Safar and Rabi-ul-Awwal. On the face of it, the aim of these journeys is to spread Islam, but the material gain from this pilgrimage cannot be ignored.
A survey conducted by Pakistan Today revealed some interesting figures, which might be alarming for many believers. The survey showed that revered cleric Allama Talib Johari charged Rs 65,000 (excluding air ticket and security allowance) to travel outside of Karachi.
Similarly, Ghazanfar Abbas Taunsvi charge Rs 50,000 per appearance, Gulfam Hussain Hashmi of Multan charged Rs 30,000, Allama Nasir Abbas Rs 25,000, Syed Nadeem Raza Sarwar Rs 100,000, Hassan Sadiq of Faisalabad Rs 40,000, and Zeeshan Hyder of Dera Ghazi Khan charged Rs 40,000, the survey showed.
According to the survey, nawt-khawn Awais Raza Qadri charged Rs 50,000 per appearance, Faseh-ud-Din Soharwardi charged Rs 30,000, Shahbaz Qamar Fareedi Rs 30,000, Maulana Saeed Asad from Faisalabad Rs 10,000, Syed Fida Hussain Shah Rs 10,000, Abduttawwab Siddiqui Rs 10,000 and Maulvi Yousaf Toka, Maulana Hanif Rabbani ,Abdul Azim Yazdani and Hafiz Abdul Basit Sheikhupuri charged Rs 5,000 each.
Maulana Abdul Hai Abid, Maulana Shahnawaz Farooqi and Maulana Shabir Ahmed Usmani usually did not demand a set amount, the survey determined, but heartily accepted what their hosts offered. “Unfortunately, passion has translated into profession, which you can judge by looking at the rates these clerics are charging the simple devotees of the religion. It ranges from Rs 5,000 to Rs 100,000, whereas they should only be charging conveyance allowance from the hosts,” said Jamia Naeemia Lahore Principal Dr Raghib Naeemi.
On the other hand, a large number of people had a different point of view on the situation and believed that there was no harm in the clerics demanding such payment for their services, the survey showed. “Everybody is willing to pay huge fee to teachers and lecturers who give worldly education to their children, but nobody is willing to pay religious teachers,” a survey participant said.
Other participants stated that there was a dire need to regulate the rates these clerics were charging, as they neither contributed to public wealth nor the development of Islam.