The Ruling on Deception and Evasion in Age Estimation Certificates
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His Eminence the Shaykh: Peace be upon you, and Allah’s mercy and blessings. We have what is called an age estimation certificate, which is a certificate for estimating a person’s age in the absence of a birth certificate. A birth certificate or an age estimation certificate is required from a person in many cases,Among them: such as his acceptance for study, or obtaining a passport for him, or for his treatment, or for his employment in a job, or for his years of service to determine the age for exemption from service. However, some people have started to deceive regarding this. Although they possess original birth certificates, we find them obtaining age estimation certificates; this is with the intention of obtaining some worldly benefits, such as increasing their age slightly in order to be admitted to school at an earlier age, or because their age has exceeded the acceptable limit, or for a job that requires a specific age. As for most people, they reduce their age by several years in this certificate for many interests, such as competing with students for admission to the police academy or the army, or obtaining discounted travel tickets for youth, and so on. What is your opinion on these harms, which many people have been afflicted with?
First: Peace, and a person sitting with his brothers, is not prescribed, and many people have now become accustomed, when they submit a question while in the same place, to say: Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy, and then read the question. The Companions used to sit with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and the questioner would ask without saying, Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy.
And peace, if it has no Sharia reason, is not prescribed.So here we say: Submit the question without peace, unless a man enters and gives peace, then asks.
As for the topic of age estimation -Meaning: estimating the years of a person’s age - this is needed by one who does not have a birth certificate, or who has a birth certificate that was lost and he forgot the year he was born. There is no harm in determining this by estimation; because it is among the Sharia principles that if certainty is impossible, we return to the preponderance of probability. As for one who has a birth certificate but conceals it, he is sinful, because of the deception, lying, and evasion of the state’s systems involved in that, and consequently, earning money by illegitimate means if earning money results from it.
And we regret that this occurs among Muslims today; because this is among the characteristics of the hypocrites,The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (The signs of the hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he lies; when he promises, he breaks his promise; and when he is trusted, he betrays) and this is a betrayer and a liar;Because he will say: I do not have a birth certificate, but he has it, and he will take, for example, money based on that certificate estimated by age, which he deserves if his age is known, so there is betrayal in what he is trusted with. It is obligatory for the Muslim to rise above all of this, and to know that Allah’s provision is not attained by His disobedience. The evidence that Allah’s provision is not attained by His disobedience but rather by His mindfulness of Him,His saying, the Exalted: [Al-Talaq: 2-3] .
First: Peace, and a person sitting with his brothers, is not prescribed, and many people have now become accustomed, when they submit a question while in the same place, to say: Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy, and then read the question. The Companions used to sit with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and the questioner would ask without saying, Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy.
And peace, if it has no Sharia reason, is not prescribed.So here we say: Submit the question without peace, unless a man enters and gives peace, then asks.
As for the topic of age estimation -Meaning: estimating the years of a person’s age - this is needed by one who does not have a birth certificate, or who has a birth certificate that was lost and he forgot the year he was born. There is no harm in determining this by estimation; because it is among the Sharia principles that if certainty is impossible, we return to the preponderance of probability. As for one who has a birth certificate but conceals it, he is sinful, because of the deception, lying, and evasion of the state’s systems involved in that, and consequently, earning money by illegitimate means if earning money results from it.
And we regret that this occurs among Muslims today; because this is among the characteristics of the hypocrites,The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (The signs of the hypocrite are three: when he speaks, he lies; when he promises, he breaks his promise; and when he is trusted, he betrays) and this is a betrayer and a liar;Because he will say: I do not have a birth certificate, but he has it, and he will take, for example, money based on that certificate estimated by age, which he deserves if his age is known, so there is betrayal in what he is trusted with. It is obligatory for the Muslim to rise above all of this, and to know that Allah’s provision is not attained by His disobedience. The evidence that Allah’s provision is not attained by His disobedience but rather by His mindfulness of Him,His saying, the Exalted: