Article Number: 6
Created On: 2008-05-25 1:14 AM
URL : http://www.guidedways.com/kb/question.php?ID=6
For a humorous question (at least we think so!) unfortunately we've got a humorous response:
For one, sponsors don't grow on trees. Easier said than done!
Having said that, whether you make the sponsor pay or the customer pay,
it all adds up to be the same - it's just a different way of looking at
how a service is being run. Moreover, another problem easily arises
with sponsorships, and that is excessive and unnecessary advertisement
and endorsement of their products. When someone sponsors you and
provides you with funding, it may be that you do not wish to endorse
their product onto your users as you may think the product/services
they offer is in some way unislamic or even if their method of
marketing/promotion is unislamic in some aspects. Instead of getting
into such grey areas, we prefer we do with little but the right way.
In fact, Alhamdulillah we don't even need a sponsor (read: we don't
like to be bossed around) as we're happy funding the company ourselves.
We have excellent support from our users and are content with all we
receive in return. You may wish to read a related FAQ as to why we sell
our products to find out more.
Moreover, running an Islamic Company or providing Islamic services does
not directly mean the company is a Charity organization, a Non-Profit,
a Poor/Weak/Meek Entity or that people should be "donating" instead of
"purchasing". These are deceptive notions we don't like to associate
ourselves with. In fact it would be highly wrong of us to claim
donations/money/sponsorship on 'maintenance of our products and
services' and then not spend the amount in full on exactly that! Even a
penny spent elsewhere would be deception and a lie. We are instead
comfortable with the current model we have where we love to provide
free services in the Way of Allah (swt) and demand a reasonable price
for advanced softwares we think we've put a lot of hard work into.