The Ruling on Accepting a Gift and the Criterion for Taking It
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
And may Allah bless you. The brother Abdullah asks: What is the ruling on accepting a gift, and what is the criterion for taking it? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged giving gifts, as in his saying, "Give gifts to one another, and you will love one another." A gift soothes the sick, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to accept gifts and give thanks for them. Therefore, giving gifts is encouraged, and accepting gifts is also encouraged. This is something the Shari'ah has encouraged, because it begets love between those who exchange gifts. However, if the person to whom the gift is given receives it because of his position or the work he does for people, and it was not the custom to give him gifts before he took on that role, then this is not permissible, because this falls under the category of bribery. Yes.
And may Allah bless you. The brother Abdullah asks: What is the ruling on accepting a gift, and what is the criterion for taking it? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) encouraged giving gifts, as in his saying, "Give gifts to one another, and you will love one another." A gift soothes the sick, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to accept gifts and give thanks for them. Therefore, giving gifts is encouraged, and accepting gifts is also encouraged. This is something the Shari'ah has encouraged, because it begets love between those who exchange gifts. However, if the person to whom the gift is given receives it because of his position or the work he does for people, and it was not the custom to give him gifts before he took on that role, then this is not permissible, because this falls under the category of bribery. Yes.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 03/180 — archive.org (6:14)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.