Is this zakat-eligible?
Short answer: treat it as sadaqah, not zakat. The large majority of scholars hold that building a masjid is not a valid use of zakat, because zakat must be owned by an eligible person. So we default every campaign to sadaqah and waqf. If we ever accept zakat for a specifically eligible cause, it'll be clearly labeled and kept in a separate account — never mixed.
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Our 501(c)(3) application is in progress. Once the IRS approves it, tax-exempt status applies retroactively to our formation date — so contributions made now can become deductible once approval comes through. We'll never claim deductibility before it's real; we'll tell you exactly where we stand.
How do I know it's actually halal?
Every dollar sits in an interest-free account at a bank with a Sharia supervisory board — it is never lent out and never earns riba. There is no debt or interest anywhere in how we operate. Any stray interest that somehow appears is quarantined and given away to charity, never counted as ours and never used to build a masjid.
How do you know the masjid and project are real?
We verify before raising a single dollar: the organization's identity and tax ID, its documents, and a real human confirming the project on the ground. For our first projects that verifier is our own founder, in person. We don't rely on photo metadata (it's easily faked) — we rely on people who actually go and look.
Does the Foundation take a cut?
No platform fee, and no one draws a salary from your sadaqah. Operations are funded separately — in part by NurGuard's 10% donation. Your gift goes to the masjid.
What's the NurGuard 10%?
NurGuard, a halal app from the same team, donates 10% of every subscription to Masjid Builder Foundation. It's a steady stream of sadaqah into real masajid, on top of what donors give directly — and it shows up on our public ledger like any other contribution.
Where does the money go if a project over-funds or falls through?
We name campaigns broadly and tell you upfront what happens to any surplus. If a specific project can't proceed, you'll be offered the choice: redirect your gift to another masjid, roll it into our endowment for future builds, or get it back. Your intention is honored — nothing is quietly moved.
Why start in just one city?
Because trust is earned by proof, not promises. We'd rather completely finish one verified masjid in Kissimmee, Florida — tracked to the dollar — than scatter money across a hundred we can't show you. Then we repeat it, city by city.