This is so disheartening to hear. I've spent nearly 2 years studying online with them and have contributed financially. I'm quite shocked to be honest and don't know what to do at this point. It's such a shame as the religious content is great and so accessible but at the same time the moment you hear of such corruption it's human nature to want to immediately dissociate with such people and organisations.
I wanted seekers guidance to succeed. From around 2015-2020 I would respond to most of their appeals and donated much sadaqa and zakaat, enrolled in online classes, and even volunteered as a TA in a shafii course. They were times when: 1) they would have appeals for electronic equipment like cameras, mics and stuff and that appeal would linger on after I contributed and I would say I'm just gonna fund it all and after I would do that they would continue appealing to that cause. 2) the same thing would happen with raising money for different shaykhs on different occassions ( at first I was gullible thinking it might have been people forgetting to take it down and some sort of automatic reach occurred requesting funds of an initiative that has been met. however, onetime i asked why are you asking for a cause already met and i got a response saying it is for him and others similar 3) They would repurpose videos, usually converted sisters, who was used to raise funds for initiatives already met sometimes even year(s) later. 4) they reached out to me privately to raise funds using individuals saying not to say anything (I'm convinced it was shenanigans). 5) they would use people who know how to raise money and take advantage of Muslims who want to do khair. You should talk to people who use to work or volunteer and get them to sing like canaries such as I might butcher the spelling: saddia queshi, Yasmin Tahir and her husband, Anton kuratnik and his wife, Erin Rutherford, Zafar, Ahmad Munawarra, fareen alam, and others. some might cooperate and some might not. They started off transparent and would raise money in a visible way (like those donate bombs if you remeber) but once they tried the marketing of a needy shaykh and showed sad pictures the response was apparent this brings results and took advantage of their donors. I benefited religiously from faraz online classes and I made relations with teachers on the platform that allowed me to participate in classes outside the platform but once this practice become apparent and the bad counseling answers on their website I shredded every last note I ever took and even ended all participation of those classes outside of seekers platform because I didn't know who was who anymore. I hope this information helps your research even further.
I knew we’d end up like the megachurch pastors in the US one day. Except the pastors are at least up front about their schemes. Potentially taking from zakat money is mind boggling. How many ayats of Qur’an talk about the severe punishment of unjustly consuming others’ rights!?
As a newish (2+ years) Muslim, I've found Seeker's Guidance to be one of the only balanced sources of knowledge I can find. I'm enrolled in some of their classes and have benefited much. I often recommend them to others.
I had no idea about any of this.
What I do know (and maybe you knew/accounted for this) is that the form 990 is an estimate only. Some nonprofits don't have to provide actual records to back it up, especially depending on the type of formation the nonprofit has. There's more than one 501, 503, and 508 type of nonprofits. Now, many smaller places leave it at that, just the form 990 when they are eligible. But larger places who have payroll and other sources of income outside of straight qualified donations must then file regular tax filings, which must reflect the correct info for the year (not just an estimate). That could account for some of the differences in some of the places.
I'm not a tax professional, just sharing what I learned when I looked into forming more than one nonprofit. I never did form one.
I really appreciate that you feel you have benefited from Seekers Guidance. I also understand that information like this may be unexpected and a little troubling.
I don't know where you received information about nonprofits or 990s, but it is incorrect. Sections 503 and 508 do not describe separate kinds of nonprofits, but are rules concerning nonprofits, (disqualified transactions and private foundation rules). It is true there may be a variety of tax forms involved. However, the 990 is the principle filing by a nonprofit organization. You should review the form 990 as well as the instructions provided by the IRS if you are interested. They are on the IRS website. While there is a provision for estimates where the information was requested from a third party but not obtained, or for situations where you are not sure, like the number of volunteers, estimates need to be identified as such and explained.
The 990 is filed under penalty of perjury. You can't just freely fudge the numbers and call them "estimates"- that is not a thing. There are actually several instances of people being prosecuted and going to prison for providing inaccurate numbers on form 990s. Even honest mistakes can get people a civil fine.
If you do ever go the route of actually forming and running a nonprofit, I would urge you to get significantly better advice than what you have apparently been getting.
So I first posted this in June 2019, but took it down after a couple of years. Reposting recently updated the date to 2025. Wasn't able to give you a screenshot here but it's dated on my facebook. https://islamandstuff.wordpress.com/2025/03/04/10/
All Muslim non-profits should be investigated/inspected especially those in the Bay Area, California. Why are Directors & Lead of the Marketing Departments making over 100K a year salary & majority of funds going to administrative fees but claim to help others with giving away $5.00-$10.00 books to prisoner's. Sounds like a true hustle and shady business dealings. "Brother we help those in need" "We give money away" . We give brother jobs at minimum wage but use them to advertise and use them to get more donations. Folks this is pimpin' 101...
Can Zakat be used for educational purposes? Isn’t Zakat meant to be for absolute necessities? I’ve seen more and more scholarships operating using Zakat- is this even fair wealth distribution, especially as there’s literally millions of Muslims experiencing famines, poor sanitation and no housing???? Why is Zakat being used to fund education?
I did not get into this issue much because it is a fiqh issue I did not want to get into the weeds on. However, as portrayed it is a zakat program for Islamic scholars and students of knowledge in need. Both of these groups can have challenges with food, sanitation, housing and other needs and can be Zakat eligible. Historically, zakat has been used to fund education for the poor as well. There are some issues with how Sh. Faraz Rabbani has been using Zakat, including using it to make payroll and potentially using it as a kind of slush fund he can borrow from, according to his former board members. I don't believe any formal fiqh opinion justification has come about justifying this kind of thing, however.
So I was curious about this too I once looked it up for charities in general, and I was curious if this falls under “Al Ameleen Alayha” - the ones who do the work of charity also get a portion of it. And then I looked up something like islamic relief and this is what I got (below). So I’m wondering do all charities allocate charity funds for internal/staff means and not just the cause they are going to? Otherwise how do they run .. ?
“Islamic Relief, like other charities, uses a portion of its donations to pay its employees, including those in administrative and operational roles, as well as for fundraising and other core functions.
Charities, including Islamic Relief, need to allocate funds for administrative and operational costs, including salaries, to ensure their programs can run effectively
Zakat Policy: Islamic Relief USA (IRUSA) is eligible to use a percentage of donations made to Zakat-specific funds for core work, including administrative and operational functions”
Local Masajid. I think international relief is a challenge right now, especially for Zakat since nobody accounts for it yet and few have published standards at all. UNHCR has the best international zakat program I have seen
Not sure that is relevant. If it is true, folks with ASD can be quite successful at running nonprofits or Islamic scholarship, and I am sure some won't be. Thanks for your comment!
This is so disheartening to hear. I've spent nearly 2 years studying online with them and have contributed financially. I'm quite shocked to be honest and don't know what to do at this point. It's such a shame as the religious content is great and so accessible but at the same time the moment you hear of such corruption it's human nature to want to immediately dissociate with such people and organisations.
I wanted seekers guidance to succeed. From around 2015-2020 I would respond to most of their appeals and donated much sadaqa and zakaat, enrolled in online classes, and even volunteered as a TA in a shafii course. They were times when: 1) they would have appeals for electronic equipment like cameras, mics and stuff and that appeal would linger on after I contributed and I would say I'm just gonna fund it all and after I would do that they would continue appealing to that cause. 2) the same thing would happen with raising money for different shaykhs on different occassions ( at first I was gullible thinking it might have been people forgetting to take it down and some sort of automatic reach occurred requesting funds of an initiative that has been met. however, onetime i asked why are you asking for a cause already met and i got a response saying it is for him and others similar 3) They would repurpose videos, usually converted sisters, who was used to raise funds for initiatives already met sometimes even year(s) later. 4) they reached out to me privately to raise funds using individuals saying not to say anything (I'm convinced it was shenanigans). 5) they would use people who know how to raise money and take advantage of Muslims who want to do khair. You should talk to people who use to work or volunteer and get them to sing like canaries such as I might butcher the spelling: saddia queshi, Yasmin Tahir and her husband, Anton kuratnik and his wife, Erin Rutherford, Zafar, Ahmad Munawarra, fareen alam, and others. some might cooperate and some might not. They started off transparent and would raise money in a visible way (like those donate bombs if you remeber) but once they tried the marketing of a needy shaykh and showed sad pictures the response was apparent this brings results and took advantage of their donors. I benefited religiously from faraz online classes and I made relations with teachers on the platform that allowed me to participate in classes outside the platform but once this practice become apparent and the bad counseling answers on their website I shredded every last note I ever took and even ended all participation of those classes outside of seekers platform because I didn't know who was who anymore. I hope this information helps your research even further.
I knew we’d end up like the megachurch pastors in the US one day. Except the pastors are at least up front about their schemes. Potentially taking from zakat money is mind boggling. How many ayats of Qur’an talk about the severe punishment of unjustly consuming others’ rights!?
As a newish (2+ years) Muslim, I've found Seeker's Guidance to be one of the only balanced sources of knowledge I can find. I'm enrolled in some of their classes and have benefited much. I often recommend them to others.
I had no idea about any of this.
What I do know (and maybe you knew/accounted for this) is that the form 990 is an estimate only. Some nonprofits don't have to provide actual records to back it up, especially depending on the type of formation the nonprofit has. There's more than one 501, 503, and 508 type of nonprofits. Now, many smaller places leave it at that, just the form 990 when they are eligible. But larger places who have payroll and other sources of income outside of straight qualified donations must then file regular tax filings, which must reflect the correct info for the year (not just an estimate). That could account for some of the differences in some of the places.
I'm not a tax professional, just sharing what I learned when I looked into forming more than one nonprofit. I never did form one.
I really appreciate that you feel you have benefited from Seekers Guidance. I also understand that information like this may be unexpected and a little troubling.
I don't know where you received information about nonprofits or 990s, but it is incorrect. Sections 503 and 508 do not describe separate kinds of nonprofits, but are rules concerning nonprofits, (disqualified transactions and private foundation rules). It is true there may be a variety of tax forms involved. However, the 990 is the principle filing by a nonprofit organization. You should review the form 990 as well as the instructions provided by the IRS if you are interested. They are on the IRS website. While there is a provision for estimates where the information was requested from a third party but not obtained, or for situations where you are not sure, like the number of volunteers, estimates need to be identified as such and explained.
The 990 is filed under penalty of perjury. You can't just freely fudge the numbers and call them "estimates"- that is not a thing. There are actually several instances of people being prosecuted and going to prison for providing inaccurate numbers on form 990s. Even honest mistakes can get people a civil fine.
If you do ever go the route of actually forming and running a nonprofit, I would urge you to get significantly better advice than what you have apparently been getting.
Thanks for the mention. I will say though, I've actually been warning against Faraz since 2019, so that's 6 years, but who's counting
Wait you have an article from 2019?
So I first posted this in June 2019, but took it down after a couple of years. Reposting recently updated the date to 2025. Wasn't able to give you a screenshot here but it's dated on my facebook. https://islamandstuff.wordpress.com/2025/03/04/10/
https://www.facebook.com/adilkhan23/posts/pfbid02T4EesVjo94WjKN2jPABT5PbCCqYCKWSSDBYQXfxzPXGJAnfyXhEKDWjRrxUuhDnul
Salaams !
Have you officially taken this up with him before going public?
Assalamu Alaikum. Indeed, I have. This in addressed in the article itself. Virtually all the information here is public already, however.
All Muslim non-profits should be investigated/inspected especially those in the Bay Area, California. Why are Directors & Lead of the Marketing Departments making over 100K a year salary & majority of funds going to administrative fees but claim to help others with giving away $5.00-$10.00 books to prisoner's. Sounds like a true hustle and shady business dealings. "Brother we help those in need" "We give money away" . We give brother jobs at minimum wage but use them to advertise and use them to get more donations. Folks this is pimpin' 101...
Can Zakat be used for educational purposes? Isn’t Zakat meant to be for absolute necessities? I’ve seen more and more scholarships operating using Zakat- is this even fair wealth distribution, especially as there’s literally millions of Muslims experiencing famines, poor sanitation and no housing???? Why is Zakat being used to fund education?
I did not get into this issue much because it is a fiqh issue I did not want to get into the weeds on. However, as portrayed it is a zakat program for Islamic scholars and students of knowledge in need. Both of these groups can have challenges with food, sanitation, housing and other needs and can be Zakat eligible. Historically, zakat has been used to fund education for the poor as well. There are some issues with how Sh. Faraz Rabbani has been using Zakat, including using it to make payroll and potentially using it as a kind of slush fund he can borrow from, according to his former board members. I don't believe any formal fiqh opinion justification has come about justifying this kind of thing, however.
So I was curious about this too I once looked it up for charities in general, and I was curious if this falls under “Al Ameleen Alayha” - the ones who do the work of charity also get a portion of it. And then I looked up something like islamic relief and this is what I got (below). So I’m wondering do all charities allocate charity funds for internal/staff means and not just the cause they are going to? Otherwise how do they run .. ?
“Islamic Relief, like other charities, uses a portion of its donations to pay its employees, including those in administrative and operational roles, as well as for fundraising and other core functions.
Charities, including Islamic Relief, need to allocate funds for administrative and operational costs, including salaries, to ensure their programs can run effectively
Zakat Policy: Islamic Relief USA (IRUSA) is eligible to use a percentage of donations made to Zakat-specific funds for core work, including administrative and operational functions”
I have written about Islamic Relief several times on this newsletter. I wrote about Islamic Relief USA's zakat policy (which is distinct from the UK Islamic Relief's zakat policy here https://ehsan.substack.com/p/islamic-relief-usas-new-zakat-policy
JazakAllah Khair for this, I’m curious - do you have any charities you have assessed where you feel confident donating?
Local Masajid. I think international relief is a challenge right now, especially for Zakat since nobody accounts for it yet and few have published standards at all. UNHCR has the best international zakat program I have seen
Anyone who has spent a few minutes with Faraz Rabbani can tell he has some form of ASD. Especially those who knew him before he became "shaykh"
Not sure that is relevant. If it is true, folks with ASD can be quite successful at running nonprofits or Islamic scholarship, and I am sure some won't be. Thanks for your comment!