Am I Sinful for Working in a Debt Collection Court?


Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

My job is to process cases, send summons in the mail, send/receive mail, etc. The court deals primarily with debt collection and landlord-tenant disputes. This means that a part of my job is to process cases where banks or other lenders are suing people to pay their loans back which of course includes riba.

Part of my job is to process and enter these cases, including typing the amount of money due and the interest rate. Is this job haram, and what is the status of my income from it?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

You are not sinful to work in a Debt Collection Court.

The majority of the money that you are trying to collect is non-interest based. You are but an agent for processing the collection between the court and the debtor. Also, the wage and salary you are paid are halal, mainly from the local government budget.

Check this link as well:
What Are the Principles of Work and Assisting in Sin? [Video] – SeekersGuidance
assisting in sin Archives – SeekersGuidance

I pray this helps with your question.

[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied within UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.

He started his early education in UK. He went onto complete hifz of Qur’an in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in UK where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then travelled to Karachi, Pakistan.

He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching 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 UK with his wife. His personal interest is love of books and gardening.