The benefit of haram earnings and favoring some children in gifts
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Fatwa number ( 15217 )
Q: My father traveled to the city of Jeddah fifty years ago to work like the rest of Allah’s servants. It was Allah’s will that he work in the house of one of the managers of the interest-based banks, and he remained with him, staying in the house, until he was appointed to work in the bank. He has now been working in this bank with this manager for more than thirty-five years. Although my father cannot read or write, he managed to accumulate a considerable fortune, which he used to raise me and my sisters in the best way. We ate, wore, and rode from this money until I was about twenty-five years old. Because I am, praise be to Allah, an upright young man who knows Allah truly, fears His punishment, and knows the danger of riba in this world and the Hereafter, and because my father gave me one of the apartments in a building he owns as a gift on the occasion of my marriage, and opened a business for me in his shops because I am his eldest son, I am not convinced by all of this; for what is with Allah is better and more lasting. Therefore, O honorable Shaykh—may Allah reward you with the best reward—I ask you to kindly answer my following questions, each one individually:
1- Is my father’s money haram, even though he worked in the bank and in buying and selling real estate? 2- Do I have to return everything he spent over the following years? 3- Should I live in the apartment he gave me as a gift and work in his shops, or should I move out, or should I pay him rent? 4- Does my father have a repentance, even though he prays, gives charity, is dutiful to his parents, and knows Allah, but he does not know the danger of riba? 5- Does what my father did fall under the famous hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the cursing of riba? 6- How does Allah accept the repentance of my father, especially since he is now retired? How can I atone for his sins? 7- Should I disobey him in the way of pleasing Allah?
A: If you do not know that the money that came to you from your father was acquired from haram, then there is no blame on you in that; because the original state is the purity of the conscience, and because the original state of money that reaches a servant is permissibility, unless he knows what necessitates prohibition. But if you have brothers and sisters, it is obligatory for your father to be just between you and them in gifts, as in inheritance, unless
they permit you to be singled out or favored over them. If they are guided, then there is no harm in that. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q: My father traveled to the city of Jeddah fifty years ago to work like the rest of Allah’s servants. It was Allah’s will that he work in the house of one of the managers of the interest-based banks, and he remained with him, staying in the house, until he was appointed to work in the bank. He has now been working in this bank with this manager for more than thirty-five years. Although my father cannot read or write, he managed to accumulate a considerable fortune, which he used to raise me and my sisters in the best way. We ate, wore, and rode from this money until I was about twenty-five years old. Because I am, praise be to Allah, an upright young man who knows Allah truly, fears His punishment, and knows the danger of riba in this world and the Hereafter, and because my father gave me one of the apartments in a building he owns as a gift on the occasion of my marriage, and opened a business for me in his shops because I am his eldest son, I am not convinced by all of this; for what is with Allah is better and more lasting. Therefore, O honorable Shaykh—may Allah reward you with the best reward—I ask you to kindly answer my following questions, each one individually:
1- Is my father’s money haram, even though he worked in the bank and in buying and selling real estate? 2- Do I have to return everything he spent over the following years? 3- Should I live in the apartment he gave me as a gift and work in his shops, or should I move out, or should I pay him rent? 4- Does my father have a repentance, even though he prays, gives charity, is dutiful to his parents, and knows Allah, but he does not know the danger of riba? 5- Does what my father did fall under the famous hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the cursing of riba? 6- How does Allah accept the repentance of my father, especially since he is now retired? How can I atone for his sins? 7- Should I disobey him in the way of pleasing Allah?
A: If you do not know that the money that came to you from your father was acquired from haram, then there is no blame on you in that; because the original state is the purity of the conscience, and because the original state of money that reaches a servant is permissibility, unless he knows what necessitates prohibition. But if you have brothers and sisters, it is obligatory for your father to be just between you and them in gifts, as in inheritance, unless
they permit you to be singled out or favored over them. If they are guided, then there is no harm in that. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.