Is It Permissible to Work on Upwork While Ignoring Its Policies?

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Question

People recommend earning money on Upwork, but its policies are strict: you may not communicate with clients outside the platform, which incurs costs, and you may only ever have one account.

Many people publicly admit to violating these rules, and one freelancer suggested finding the client on Upwork and then dealing with him outside of it without paying anything.

Is one allowed to work there and ignore these policies?

Answer

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

Working on Upwork is permissible: you provide a lawful service for a lawful wage. Ignoring its policies is not.

By creating an account, you agree to its terms, and a Muslim is bound by their agreements.

Deliberately sourcing a client through the platform and then moving the deal outside it to avoid its fees is a breach of your word and an improper use of the platform’s due diligence.

Either work there and honor the terms, or do not work there.

Working on the Platform Is Permissible

The default ruling of things is permissibility (al-asl fi al-ashya’ al-ibaha). [Suyuti, al-Ashbah wa al-Naza’ir]

Freelancing through Upwork is a contract of hire (ijara) for lawful work in exchange for a lawful wage, so there is nothing to prohibit it, provided the work itself is lawful.

Its Terms Are Binding

When you register, you accept the platform’s terms in exchange for access to its clients and services. This is an agreement, and Allah (Most High) says, “O believers, honor your obligations.” [Quran, 5:1]

The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Muslims are bound by their conditions, except a condition that makes the lawful unlawful or the unlawful lawful.” [Tirmidhi] Nothing in the terms you describe obliges you to sin, so they bind you.

The fact that many people publicly violate them changes nothing; widespread wrongdoing is not a proof in the Sacred Law.

Circumventing the Fees Is Wrongful

The platform’s service connects you to clients, and its fees are compensation for that service.

Whoever finds a client through the platform and then deliberately takes the deal outside it to avoid paying has taken the benefit while withholding the compensation, in breach of their agreement.

Allah (Most High) says, “O believers, do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly, but rather trade by mutual consent.” [Quran, 4:29]

The same applies to opening multiple accounts in violation of the one-account rule, which typically also involves outright deception.

If the platform itself provides a sanctioned procedure for ending a working relationship, then following that procedure is the lawful route.

Principle and Practical Guidance

The matter is simple: the platform is not obligatory. Whoever finds its terms too strict may earn elsewhere, but whoever chooses to use it has given his word and must keep it. Earnings taken through breach of agreement carry the taint of the unlawful, and a believer’s livelihood is not built on that.

And Allah (Most High) knows best.

[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

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Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him), where he taught.

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Shaykh Muhammad Awama, Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Hitu, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has been the Director of the Discover Islam Centre, and for six years, he has been the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has fifteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic podcast, education, and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy Prophetic living and fitness.