Ears of grain that growwhere water is scarce.

And because these acts touch on religion, our activity is supervised and controlled by people of knowledge, whose names and opinions you will find on our Sharia Board page, freely available.

Sanabil is not a charity. It is a company, and this choice has been assumed from day one. It is stated in our legal notice.

This is not an administrative detail; it is a fundamental decision. Here is what led us to it.

Because helping costs money, whatever the structure.
Let us say it simply: there is no humanitarian work without expenses. A well does not drill itself. A sacrifice does not perform itself. Behind every project there are people who travel, equipment that crosses countries, hours of work, checks, and reports sent one by one. Every organisation that does this work seriously bears these costs. The only difference between them is whether they say so. We prefer to say so. And saying so changes nothing for your budget: our prices are in line with those of the charities offering the same projects. A well, a tree, an Aqiqah cost you with us what they cost elsewhere, with the proof on top.

Because the donation model does not allow you to last.
A structure that lives on donations depends on the generosity of the moment: it receives a lot during Ramadan and Eid, very little the rest of the year. You cannot build a stable organisation on seasonal income. You cannot keep trained teams, commit for twelve months, or promise a man in Niger that he will still have work in January. We wanted to be able to mobilise people continuously, all year round. That required a solid model, not a fundraiser.

Because we wanted an obligation of result.
A donor gives, then trusts. A customer is entitled to what they paid for. That difference changes everything: we do not ask for your support, we owe you a result. If the project does not exist, if the proof does not arrive, we have not done our job, and it shows immediately.

Because we wanted to employ, not only distribute.
In every country where we operate, these projects give men work. They are paid with dignity, at home, from lawful earnings, and support their families. Help that creates work seems to us worth more than help that merely passes through.

Because this status binds us.
A company keeps accounts, has tax and legal obligations, and must answer for itself. And it does not survive if it disappoints: its customers do not come back, and everything stops. We chose this demand knowingly.

It is a legitimate question, and we prefer to answer it ourselves.

Your sadaqah is not meant for us. Your sadaqah is the well that rises from the ground. It is the tree that will bear fruit for years. It is the sacrifice performed in your name and given to those who need it. It goes to the beneficiaries, and to them alone. We are not its recipients: we are its executors.

Because an act of charity does not carry itself out. Between your intention and the beneficiary there is a chain of people. A driller who digs. A carrier who transports. A butcher who sacrifices. Someone who travels to verify and bring back the proof. None of them works for free, and no one has ever considered that their pay tainted the charity. It is its condition.

On this point, Islamic law settled the matter fourteen centuries ago. When Allah lists in His Book the categories of people to whom zakat is due, He expressly includes those in charge of collecting it (Surah At-Tawbah, verse 60). Those who work to collect and distribute alms are entitled to a share of these funds in return for their work, not by tolerance, but by a ruling of Allah Himself.

And this concerns zakat: the obligatory charity, a pillar of Islam, the most solemn there is. If the work done in the service of zakat deserves payment, all the more so the work done in the service of a voluntary charity.

This is the place we occupy: that of the one entrusted with the act. You entrust us with its execution, we carry it out, we verify it, we bring you the proof. This service has a price, and you know it before ordering.

This is precisely the opposite of ambiguity. What would be a problem would be to receive charity while letting people believe it is passed on in full, while deducting without saying so. We do the exact opposite.

Take a well, concretely.

Before the first drilling stroke, the area must be identified: the one where the need is real, not the one that is convenient. Machines and materials must be brought to where the roads end. Then drilling, sometimes deep. Supervising the site, coming back to make sure the water flows. Then filming, photographing, and sending each customer their proof, file by file.

Once the structure is delivered, its maintenance belongs to the village that lives from it. It is their water, and no one takes better care of it than they do.

Your contribution pays for the structure and for all the means that guarantee it exists, works and lasts.