What is the ruling on paying money to ward off harm?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner asks: Is it permissible to pay some money to ward off a harm or evil that befalls him, when there is no way to ward it off except by this method?
Answer:
This is a bribe. This is among bribes, and a bribe is not permissible. However, if this oppressor has someone above him from the authorities who can stop him, then you should bring his case to the one in authority. You bring his case to the one in authority so that he may take him to task and prevent him from oppression, and you do not pay him a bribe.
The questioner asks: Is it permissible to pay some money to ward off a harm or evil that befalls him, when there is no way to ward it off except by this method?
Answer:
This is a bribe. This is among bribes, and a bribe is not permissible. However, if this oppressor has someone above him from the authorities who can stop him, then you should bring his case to the one in authority. You bring his case to the one in authority so that he may take him to task and prevent him from oppression, and you do not pay him a bribe.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم دفع مال لدفع مضرة؟ للشيخ الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.