Is It Permissible to Hold Money for a Relative Whose Income Is Mixed?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Question
Is it permissible to hold money for a relative whose income is mixed between lawful and unlawful sources?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
It is entirely permissible to hold funds for a relative with mixed income as a financial trust, as mere safekeeping does not constitute personal consumption, use, or benefit. When the exact unlawful portion of the wealth is unknown, the custodian may assume it is lawful solely to safeguard it. However, they retain the spiritual duty to offer sincere advice against unlawful earnings.
Holding the Money as a Trust
It is permissible to hold such money on their behalf as a trust. In this situation, you may assume, for your purposes, that the money is lawful. This is because you are not going to consume or spend it. Instead, you are simply holding it on their behalf.
If someone asks you to look after a sum of money, such as 20,000 pounds, and you agree to keep it safely for them, this is permissible. Holding money in trust does not entail consuming it, spending it, or personally benefiting from anything unlawful.
No Consumption or Use of the Money
Since you are not spending the money, you are not engaging in unlawful consumption. Additionally, even if you have a rough idea that part of their income may be impermissible, you do not know which specific portion of the money comes from unlawful sources. For this reason, you may assume it is lawful for the purpose of safeguarding it.
The key point here is that the money is to be saved and held for them, not spent or used.
Offering Advice and Showing Disapproval
At the same time, a person in this situation should offer sincere advice. One should remind them that flesh which grows or is nourished from impermissible income has more right to the Hellfire than to Paradise. At the very least, one should show disapproval of their actions and not appear to endorse or approve of unlawful earnings.
And Allah knows best.
[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim
Related Answers
- Is Income from Questionable Jobs Entirely Unlawful or Only Partially? — A clear breakdown outlining how mixing lawful and unlawful revenue streams affects the final status of personal wealth.
- Spending Haram Wealth — Explains the strict canonical limits and parameters ruling how someone can spend from a heavily mixed pool of money.
- What Is the Ruling If the Husband Pays Zakat for His Wife from a Mixed Wealth? — Examines financial transactions involving mixed capital and details how to practice caution when receiving support from others.
Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began studying Arabic Grammar and Morphology whilst studying for a degree in English and History. After graduating, He traveled to Damascus and studied Arabic, Hanafi Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, Theology, and Logic with Shaykh Adnan Darwish, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahman Arjan al-Binsawi, Shaykh Husayn Darwish, Shaykh Muhammad Darwish, the late Shaykh Rashad Shams, and others. He then moved to Amman to continue his studies in those fields, as well as in Tafsir, Quranic Sciences, Hadith Methodology and Commentary, Prophetic Biography, Prophetic Perfections and Traits, Rhetoric, Arabic Literature, and Tajwid. His teachers include Shaykh Ali Hani, Dr. Hamza al-Bakri, Dr. Salah Abu al-Hajj, Dr. Mansur Abu Zina, Shaykh Ahmad Hasanat, Shaykh Ahmad Jammal, and others.
