Can I Work at Companies with Some Haram Items?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
If you do such jobs which are generally permissible but may inadverently contain some haraam aspects, would your whole income become haram or would you just get sin?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
If one’s work requires one to directly assist in the prohibited, such that one has a direct role in the customer’s choosing a prohibited product – such work is strictly prohibited (haram). [Usmani, Fiqh al-Buyu‘]
Allah Most High says, “Cooperate with one another in goodness and righteousness, and do not cooperate in sin and transgression. And be mindful of Allah. Surely Allah is severe in punishment.” [Quran, 4:3]
If one’s job puts them in an indirect association with the prohibited – such a job is not strictly prohibited (haram). However, it is prohibitively disliked (a level down from prohibited) if other feasible permissible alternative jobs exist. [Usmani, Fiqh al-Buyu’]
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
