Taqy Malik's Food Charity in Saudi Arabia Also Allegedly Problematic

"He also opened food donations, where the average price of food donations there is around 8 riyals, 10 riyals to 15 riyals. That would be roughly converted to about 50 thousand rupiah. But he opened it at a price of 100 thousand rupiah per box," said Randy Permana in a virtual press conference on Friday (13/2/2026).

The problem escalated when the food distribution took place in the area of Masjid Quba. Randy recounted that the Indonesian food distributed was not suitable for the local congregation's taste, resulting in much being wasted and littering the mosque area. This incident led to Taqy being sought by police intelligence in Madinah for disturbing public order.

"The case was that he sold food, donated food. Because when he shared it, he shared his food not in the mosque area but in the area of Masjid Quba at that time. And finally, because his food did not match the congregation there, a lot of food was wasted and made a mess. And in the end, they looked for who was distributing here, and when they found out, it was Taqy," he explained.

The situation reportedly caused Taqy to move from place to place to avoid police surveillance. Randy mentioned that Taqy even managed to escape from the hotel to an apartment located far from the mosque to find safety.

"In the end, it became crowded again, and the police searched for him around. Initially, he stayed at a hotel, then he ran away, looking for an apartment that was far from the mosque at that time, that year. He knew it himself, and that position was indeed the same as mine," said Randy.

Randy regrets that this incident keeps happening. According to him, the good intention to give charity should be accompanied by an understanding of local regulations so as not to harm those who reside in Saudi Arabia.

"The point is in Saudi, we can give charity, it is allowed. Just one thing, the point there is that documentation is minimal, right? Well, this is often exploited by our congregants who sell charity, sell endowments," he concluded.