Chieftains taking 10% tax from citizens who receive a social insurance allowance or have no insurance

Q: Here in Al-Salil, we have a custom. When a married man intends to remarry, on the first night that he goes to his new bride, men and women go to his first wife and start singing at her door, beating the Duff (a tambourine-like instrument without bells) and praising her, her father and her brothers until she grants them an animal to slaughter. Then, they take the animal, slaughter it and eat it. (Part No. 15; Page No. 329) However, if she refrains, they start dispraising her, her father and her brothers. I doubt this practice and wish you would give us a Fatwa (legal opinion issued by a qualified Muslim scholar) regarding its lawfulness.

A: If the matter is as you mentioned, that men and women go to the first wife's house the night her husband marries a second wife to sing, beat the Duff and praise her and her relatives, wishing to receive a sacrificial animal, and if she does not give it to them, they dispraise her and her relatives, this is a practice of ignorant and misguided people. It is a form of extorting people by means of praising or dispraising them. People give the offerings wishing to be praised and fearing to be dispraised. These are illicit means of making gains and a type of fraud to devour people's money falsely. This practice is prohibited and the rulers of these areas should exert effort to eradicate this custom with wisdom and fair preaching. May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.