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[Q-ID0655] Must I ask my employer whether the wage he pays me is from Halal or Haram money?

QUESTION:

What do the scholars of the Dīn and muftīs of the Sacred Law state regarding the following issue: Is it wājib and essential for me in terms of sharī’ah to ask my employer whether the wage he pays me is from a halāl source or harām. Also, how is it to work in such a place where one knows the owner has both halāl and harām wealth. Will his earning via a halāl or harām method have an affect on my wage?

Questioner: Nabeel from UK

ANSWER:

بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب

It is not wājib for you to ask from your employer whether he pays your wage from harām or halāl wealth, and whichever employer has both forms of wealth i.e. halāl & harām, then it is permissible to work there, and it is also permissible to take such wage, provided that one doesn’t know that what I am being given is harām wealth. Nowadays, it is very difficult to ascertain this; who knows which wealth of the employer is halāl and which is harām. When one does not know these things, then it is permissible & lawful to take the wage which is being given in exchange for one’s work.

Just as it is mentioned in Fatāwā Hindiyyah,

“اخْتَلَفَ النَّاسُ فِي أَخْذِ الْجَائِزَةِ مِنْ السُّلْطَانِ قَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ يَجُوزُ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ يُعْطِيهِ مِنْ حَرَامٍ قَالَ مُحَمَّدٌ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى وَبِهِ نَأْخُذُ مَا لَمْ نَعْرِفْ شَيْئًا حَرَامًا بِعَيْنِهِ، وَهُوَ قَوْلُ أَبِي حَنِيفَةَ – رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى – وَأَصْحَابِهِ”

“Scholars have differed over taking a wage, etc from a king, sultan, etc; some have said it is permissible so long as one does not come to know that it is actually harām wealth from which he gives from. Imām Muhammad, upon whom be mercy, states that when we don’t know something is harām in its essence, then we will choose this opinion.”

[Fatāwā Hindiyyah, vol 5, ch 2, pg 342]

Likewise, Sayyidī Āla Hazrat Imām e Ahle Sunnat Imām Ahmad Ridā Khān, upon whom be infinite mercies, states in reply to a question, that,

Whosoever has a mixture of harām & halāl wealth, for example, one has a certain business and one also takes usury i.e. interest, then this job is permissible for such person according to sharī’ah, and there is also no problem in taking whatever he gives [as a wage], so long as one does not know that the thing which such person is giving you in essence is harām wealth.

[Fatāwā Ridawiyyah, vol 19, pg 499]

واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری

Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadri
Translated by Haider Ali

Read the original Urdu answer here: [Q-ID0655] Must I ask my employer whether the wage he pays me is from Halal or Haram money?

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