Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu. A group of people made a savings fund wherein each pays a certain amount of money for a specific amount of time each month, and every month, one person from the group will get the combined savings all at once, but everyone will get exactly how much he paid, no more, no less. My question is: is it permissible for a person who is not part of the group to take a fee from the group or from each person for managing their money? And if it is permissible, is there any limit on how much the fee can be? Thank you.

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The agreement of a group of people on that each of them pays a specific monthly amount that will be given to one of them in the first month, and to another in the second month, and so on, until everyone takes this amount in turn, then this is permissible, and there is nothing wrong with it.

Shaykh Ibn Baaz said, “There is nothing wrong with that; it is a loan in which there is no condition of interest for anyone. The Council of Senior Scholars studied this matter, and the majority of them decreed that it is permissible as there is a benefit for all of the people without any harm.”

For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 333760.

The person who manages such a fund is entitled to ask for a fee in return for the work that he performs, like collecting the amounts and distributing them, and taking care of and organizing this. There is no limit for this fee in the Shariah; rather, it depends on the agreement that this person makes with the participants who will pay this fee.

Allah knows best.