Is It Considered Cheating to Hear or Be Given an Answer?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

Is it considered cheating if you neither intend to cheat nor ask for it but somehow end up overhearing an answer during an exam? Is it permissible to write it down, or you shouldn’t if you already do not know the answer?

What if some supervisors or even teachers in your exam are themselves telling you and everyone else the answers during the exam, although you don’t want it? The higher exam authorities may not be aware of it. Is it permissible to write it down or not?

In such scenarios, should you attempt to close your ears or say you don’t want them to tell you? It may be hard to do so.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question and for being mindful of Allah (Most High) in your exams.

Cheating is a bad character trait. If you have previously accepted the answers in the exam in the manner you have mentioned, let it be so. As for the future, if you end up hearing an answer or any teacher or supervisor telling you so, then do not accept it and write down the answer. Unless you knew you would have written it down after jogging your memory.

Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) passed by a man selling food. He put his hand in it and saw something wrong with it. The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “He is not one of us who cheats.” [Ibn Majah]

Related:

• Deception, Cheating, & Concern – Birgivi’s The Path of Muhammad Explained [Video]
• What Should I Do After Having Cheated in My Online Exams?
• The Path of Muhammad: Birgivi’s Manual of Taqwa Explained [Video]

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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.