Selling tapes that contain forbidden content
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Fatwa No. ( 5460 )
Q: I am the owner of a shop for recording cassette tapes and repairing radio and television equipment. I re-record these tapes to sell them wholesale and retail. These tapes also contain a mix of good and bad, including: songs, tawashi, the Noble Qur'an, and lessons of knowledge. I am a man who supports children and a family, and my eyes are weak, which makes me rely on selling tapes, despite what is on them, for my livelihood more than I rely on repairing the aforementioned equipment, which is few in number. I am slow in repairing them due to the weakness I suffer from in my vision. I am a committed man who fears for the livelihood of my children. Some of my brothers advised me to give up selling or
recording songs, knowing that they are the best sellers and most profitable, and the children ask for a lot, and prices are continuously rising, and the income from repairing equipment and non-song tapes is not enough to cover them. Therefore, I ask: Is selling tapes of recorded songs forbidden, even though I do not listen to them and do not know them except by their names, such as: Umm Kulthum, Ahmad 'Adawi, and Shadia ... and others like them? And if it is forbidden, what should I do, when my entire reliance for earning my livelihood is on them? Please answer this question; because I am confused about my situation and anxious about it.
A: It is not permissible for you to record songs and music and the like of them from instruments of amusement, nor to buy and sell in that, even if you do not listen to what is recorded on them; because your work is cooperation with those who use them in sin and transgression; for Allah the Exalted and Sublime said:[Al-Ma'idah 5:2] . A similar question to this one has previously come to us, and we answered it with Fatwa No. ( 4021 ), the text of which is as follows: The scriptural evidence from the Book and the Sunnah indicates that it is obligatory for the Muslim to strive to make his earnings pure. You should look for work in which the earnings are pure. As for the earnings from the work you mentioned, this is not pure; because these instruments are generally used in forbidden matters.
Q: I am the owner of a shop for recording cassette tapes and repairing radio and television equipment. I re-record these tapes to sell them wholesale and retail. These tapes also contain a mix of good and bad, including: songs, tawashi, the Noble Qur'an, and lessons of knowledge. I am a man who supports children and a family, and my eyes are weak, which makes me rely on selling tapes, despite what is on them, for my livelihood more than I rely on repairing the aforementioned equipment, which is few in number. I am slow in repairing them due to the weakness I suffer from in my vision. I am a committed man who fears for the livelihood of my children. Some of my brothers advised me to give up selling or
recording songs, knowing that they are the best sellers and most profitable, and the children ask for a lot, and prices are continuously rising, and the income from repairing equipment and non-song tapes is not enough to cover them. Therefore, I ask: Is selling tapes of recorded songs forbidden, even though I do not listen to them and do not know them except by their names, such as: Umm Kulthum, Ahmad 'Adawi, and Shadia ... and others like them? And if it is forbidden, what should I do, when my entire reliance for earning my livelihood is on them? Please answer this question; because I am confused about my situation and anxious about it.
A: It is not permissible for you to record songs and music and the like of them from instruments of amusement, nor to buy and sell in that, even if you do not listen to what is recorded on them; because your work is cooperation with those who use them in sin and transgression; for Allah the Exalted and Sublime said:
And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression.
وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَى وَلاَ تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.