The ongoing charity (Al-sadaqah al-jariyah) is any good deed that a Muslim does and its impact remains after they are gone, such as building a mosque, digging a well, planting a tree, setting up a charitable endowment, and so on. The ongoing charity is the act of the benefactor who initiated it, and not the act of anyone else.
For example, someone who donates an ongoing charity for a mosque will receive the reward for the charity, while the mosque’s management committee, who oversees the charity, will receive the reward for administration, but they will not receive the reward for the ongoing charity because they did not initiate it.
This is the rule. As for the specific question:
Firstly, not everything that comes to us is permissible to be conveyed to others, but it is necessary to verify and confirm its content and usefulness. Good intentions are not enough in this case, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “It is sufficient lying for a man to speak of everything that he hears.” [Narrated by Muslim].
Secondly, if we have verified the accuracy of what is being conveyed, simply conveying it does not qualify as ongoing charity, but rather it is a means of informing others about the original source, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Convey from me, even if it is one verse.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhari]. The one conveying the message is not a prophet or a partner of the Prophet, but they will receive the reward for conveying the message.
Thirdly, if we are concerned about the content of the message, it is not permissible to convey it except by way of clarification and warning, as the Imams used to convey the words of the disbelievers, innovators, and deviants for the purpose of clarification.
Similarly, it is not appropriate to convey fatwas from extremist or overly strict individuals, unless we know that the person asking for the fatwa intends it for himself or herself, as they may take themselves to unnecessary extremes. Whoever conveys such things has made the easy difficult and contradicted the Sunnah, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) always chose the easier of two options in matters of worship.
As for matters of transactions and prescribed penalties, it is not appropriate to convey such opinions without verification and study, as doing so could lead to the loss of people’s rights, and simply conveying information without knowledge may lead to wrongful acts. Allah says in the Quran, “And do not say about what your tongues assert of untruth, “This is lawful and this is unlawful,” to invent falsehood about Allah.” [An-Nahl, 16:116]
Fatwa by Dr. Khālid Naṣr