What is the ruling on paying money to customs to prevent them from delaying or confiscating goods?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: I travel to some countries for the purpose of trade, which is my source of livelihood. When I want to take my goods out, customs obstruct me and force me to pay a sum of money, or else they send me back. Is the amount I pay to customs considered a bribe, given that the goods are not prohibited?
Answer:
If they prevent you from passing through with your money and bringing it to the other country, you pay them what they demand, and the sin is upon them. As for you, you are paying to remove the injustice from yourself.
The questioner says: I travel to some countries for the purpose of trade, which is my source of livelihood. When I want to take my goods out, customs obstruct me and force me to pay a sum of money, or else they send me back. Is the amount I pay to customs considered a bribe, given that the goods are not prohibited?
Answer:
If they prevent you from passing through with your money and bringing it to the other country, you pay them what they demand, and the sin is upon them. As for you, you are paying to remove the injustice from yourself.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم دفع المال للجمارك تجنبا لتعطيلهم للبضاعة ومنعها؟ للشيخ الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.