 Why is it that the Khums, the half of it, which is called Sahm al-Imam, the share of Allah, the Prophet, and the relatives of the Prophet, the Imams, why does that have to be given to the scholar or the merja? Is this something well-founded or no? The idea of that, my dear brothers and sisters, is that when the Prophet is present, when the Imam is present, that part of the Khums must be given to them. When they're not present, who is the closest one to the Imams in terms of understanding their teachings and their philosophy? The experts, anyone who dedicates his life to studying the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them, is most qualified to know where the Khums needs to be spent, because they are representatives of the Imams. They're not infallible. They may make mistakes, but they are the experts in this field, knowing the teachings of the Imam, going through tens of thousands of narrations to understand the teachings of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them. The argument is that they are the most experts, and that's why it must be given to them, so they know how to strengthen religion from it. My dear brothers and sisters, if you look at the history of our school of thought, especially the last century, two centuries, what do you think has kept these seminaries, the Hauses alive, in the face of all these persecutions, in the face of this political climate, in the face of all these attacks against the school of Ahl al-Bayt? All the research that we have, the books that are published, the scholars who spend endless time delivering the teachings for us, what is it that really enabled them to do all this work? It's primarily the Khoms. And the Khoms has also allowed the seminaries to be independent from political governments. See, if you look at the seminaries of other schools of thought, and Azhar, Saudi Arabia, who funds the seminaries? The scholars in those seminaries, they're on whose payroll? The government. Now imagine if the government does something wrong. Do you think they will have the courage or the flexibility to challenge the government? If the president of Egypt is giving the money to Al-Azhar, you think they can say no to him, no to his policies? You see how politics will control seminaries? Why is it that you find historically the Shi'a seminaries are less influenced by politics? I don't say they're not influenced. Politics influence everything, but they're less influenced, especially in Najaf Iraq. Why? Because of the Khoms, because the people are the ones who are funding the seminaries, not the state, not the government. The day, my dear brothers and sisters, you see the seminary is taking their payroll from the government, realize it's over. They're just puppets for the state now. They're now just puppets for the government. Having said that, I know many people have legitimate concerns. Many people will say, yes, but we've heard of stories of the Khoms being mishandled. Ex-representative did so-and-so. There is no full transparency. There are some legitimate concerns, my dear brothers and sisters. But here's what I would say. Always when you think there's a problem, my dear brothers and sisters, you have to approach the problem positively. Instead of putting something down and denouncing it, give alternatives. Give solutions. I've heard some people say, okay, just because some people have misused the Khoms, then don't pay Khoms. In the end, it's an obligation. If you don't like this representative, you don't trust him. Don't give it to that representative. Give it to projects that you trust. And the Marajah have authorized thousands of institutions, charitable organizations, hospitals, orphanages, mosques, community centers to take the Khoms. If you don't trust a particular institution, give it to another institution. If you don't trust a particular representative, give it to another institution. You want to sponsor orphans? There are so many orphanages that have an Ijazah, a license from the Marajah to take the Khoms. Give it to them. Give it to a community center that's licensed. Give it to a hospital. Give it to something that helps widows and poor people. But for some people to sit and just denounce and say, you know what? Because there's misuse. Let's not give Khoms anymore. Is this something appropriate? Everywhere, my dear brothers and sisters, mishandling happens. In the end, people are not infallible. There are legitimate concerns. Even the tax system. I had a friend who worked in a county in the United States. In one of the counties. I won't mention the name of that county. He told me, Sayed, I worked for years in that county. And let me tell you, if you would see the millions of dollars that are mishandled, you would be shocked. Because you know, the county has, it gives you like its budget, the breakup of the budget. 2% fixing the loans, 5% this 10% education, 15% this. He said in that county, there's one category that's 51%. It's called miscellaneous, right? He says, that's where all the mishandling sometimes happens. My dear brothers and sisters, the nature of human beings is to mishandle. But are you going to go out there in society and say, hey, nobody pay taxes anymore? Let's start a movement tonight. Don't pay taxes anymore. You'll get in trouble with the laws. That's something acceptable? Yes. You should pressure them. You should give solutions. You should try to do more to make sure that it's not misused. But there are so many projects that you can trust and you can give it to them. So for someone to come and denounce the whole concept, this is not fair. You have a problem with parts of it? Okay. There are other alternatives. Go and seek those alternatives. And that's the idea here, my dear brothers and sisters. Otherwise, it's well founded in our hadith and we talked about the Holy Verse and the Holy Quran.