🌿 Is it true that our elders lived on meager salaries?
Were they also afflicted by forced poverty like us Maulvis?
Is it really correct to consider a scarcity of sustenance as a sign of virtue and sincerity?
This question is very important. Let's carefully examine those examples that are wrongly presented as "proof of sincerity," even though the reality is the opposite.
1️⃣ Hazrat Qasim Nanotvi (RA)
According to Sawaneh Qasmi, you used to work at Matba Meerut for a wage of eight/ten rupees. At that time, a bicycle could be bought for that amount. In today's terms, this salary would be close to two lakh rupees.
2️⃣ Sheikh Al-Hind Maulana Mahmood al-Hasan (RA)
According to the book, your salary was seventy-five (75) rupees per month. You would return twenty-five rupees to Darul Uloom. At that time, a valuable plot of land could be bought for seventy-five rupees.
3️⃣ Hakeem-ul-Ummat Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (RA)
At the time of Aligarh, your salary was fifty (50) rupees. When five hundred rupees were collected, you said:
"Now Hajj has become obligatory for me."
That is, Hajj was possible with ten months' salary. In today's terms, if at least thirteen lakh rupees are required for Hajj, then a Maulvi's annual salary should be thirteen lakh rupees so that he is prosperous in the same proportion.
4️⃣ Hazrat Maulana Manzoor Nomani (RA)
The salary was 250 rupees, and the monthly expenses were only 1500 rupees. That is, a year's expenses could be covered with six months' salary.
💬 Conclusion
The poverty that existed with sincerity and prosperity was voluntary poverty, not forced.
These gentlemen had fewer resources but more honor, dignity, and blessings.
In today's era:
Expensive mosques, cheap Imams, magnificent madrassas but needy teachers — donations of lakhs, but deprived on salaries of thousands,
Starving teacher, worried teacher...
If your salary is so low that you cannot fulfill the rights of your parents, wife, children, and even your own body, then you are a criminal in the eyes of Allah.
It is mentioned in the Hadith:
"Kadal Faqru An Yakuna Kufra"
(Poverty almost leads a person to disbelief)
⚠️ Message
For God's sake! Do not push your generations into poverty by eating the "lollipop of sincerity."
Serve the religion, but not by being humiliated.
If a mosque or madrassa does not pay you a salary according to the times, then find another source.
There is no shame if you run a shop or teach online for a living.
🤲 Prayer
O Allah!
Grant the scholars freedom from the clutches of poverty,
Grant honor, peace, and ease to Imams, Muazzins, and teachers.
Fill our institutions with that light again, so that the true servants of the religion become lamps
and take the Ummah out of darkness.

Aameen Ya Rabb Al-Aalameen 🌸
MashaAllah ❤️