The Ruling on Cheating in an English Language Exam
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Your Eminence! May Allah guide you and protect you: You know that the exams are approaching, and some students consider cheating in the English exam permissible, saying: This is the language of the disbelievers, and it is not permissible to learn it. What is the ruling on this? Is it permissible for the teacher to overlook cheating in this subject? Also, what is required of one who has previously cheated in this subject believing it to be permissible? Is there any prohibition in the money he earns from his certificate? Please inform us, may Allah guide you.
The exam, and it is called: An exam means that the student is tested to see the extent of his achievement in this academic year. Based on this, he is given a certificate to pass from this stage to the next, whether from primary to middle school, or from middle to high school, or from high school to university, or from university to graduate studies, or from one year to the next in any of these stages. If this is the case, then it is not permissible for the student to cheat in it;As the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his family said: (Whoever cheats us is not one of us) and this is general for all cheating. Also, because the authorities have tied specific things to these certificates, such as salaries and ranks, and the like. How can one obtain these salaries and rewards and ranks, which are the professional ladder, when he has not reached what he deserves for these ranks except through cheating?So we say: Cheating is forbidden, even in the English language; cheating is forbidden because the authorities have established it and made proficiency in this language a condition for passing this stage.
And as for His saying: It is the language of the disbelievers.
This is incorrect. How many Muslims have English as their language? All the Muslims who speak English in all parts of the world are Muslims. The language is not something a person creates. Although we see, as is the reality, that the Arabic language is the best and most noble of languages because it is the language of the Noble Qur'an and the language of the Master of the Messengers (peace and blessings be upon him), this is a famous international language spoken by both Muslims and disbelievers. Furthermore, it is prescribed for you even if it is the language of the disbelievers, for you may need it one day. I wish I knew this language because I found great benefit in it. A man may come to you to accept Islam, and you cannot communicate with him. Or you see a Muslim making mistakes in the obligations of the religion in prayer, or fasting, or zakah, or Hajj, or otherwise, and you cannot speak with him. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) ordered Zayd ibn Thabit to learn the language of the Jews; the Hebrew language; so that when letters came from the Jews, Zayd would read them and write their reply.
So it is not possible to deny the extent of people's need to learn the English language, and that it may be a great means for calling to Allah the Exalted and Majestic.
Suppose you are in a community that knows only the English language, whether they are English or not. How do you call to Allah? Is it possible to call by gesture? No matter how much you gesture, you cannot guide him or call him as you would with words.
So this conception is incorrect.
And it is true that we cannot tell the people whom Allah has blessed with the Arabic language: Switch to the English language, or the Persian, or the Urdu, or others. We do not see that a person should bypass the Arabic language for another language, making it the language of communication and understanding. But for one to learn the language of others for the sake of calling to Allah the Exalted and Mighty, or for worldly interests that are not forbidden, no one denies this at all.
The important thing is that cheating in the English exam is forbidden, and it is not permissible for the grader to be lax in this either. Rather, it is obligatory for him to treat the answer in English as he treats the answer in other study subjects.
There is no difference.
As for a person who passes by cheating and then uses that cheated, weak, and poor success to reach a rank, we see that this is dangerous for his food and drink which he benefits from the salary prescribed for passing this stage. We see that it is obligatory for the person, if he is able, to retake the exam a second time in a correct manner, and let him do so. This is if the cheating was in the certificate that resulted in this salary.
But if it was during the studies, then if he repents to Allah and the last stage by which he obtained the certificate was done correctly, we hope that Allah the Exalted and Mighty will accept his repentance, and that there is no blame on him for what he takes from the salary based on this certificate,When he says: if he cheated in the last certificate by which he obtained this salary, and he cannot retake the exam because he is a coward who cannot be frank. I hope that if the job he holds has no relation to what he cheated in, that this is a correct repentance.
The exam, and it is called: An exam means that the student is tested to see the extent of his achievement in this academic year. Based on this, he is given a certificate to pass from this stage to the next, whether from primary to middle school, or from middle to high school, or from high school to university, or from university to graduate studies, or from one year to the next in any of these stages. If this is the case, then it is not permissible for the student to cheat in it;As the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his family said: (Whoever cheats us is not one of us) and this is general for all cheating. Also, because the authorities have tied specific things to these certificates, such as salaries and ranks, and the like. How can one obtain these salaries and rewards and ranks, which are the professional ladder, when he has not reached what he deserves for these ranks except through cheating?So we say: Cheating is forbidden, even in the English language; cheating is forbidden because the authorities have established it and made proficiency in this language a condition for passing this stage.
And as for His saying: It is the language of the disbelievers.
This is incorrect. How many Muslims have English as their language? All the Muslims who speak English in all parts of the world are Muslims. The language is not something a person creates. Although we see, as is the reality, that the Arabic language is the best and most noble of languages because it is the language of the Noble Qur'an and the language of the Master of the Messengers (peace and blessings be upon him), this is a famous international language spoken by both Muslims and disbelievers. Furthermore, it is prescribed for you even if it is the language of the disbelievers, for you may need it one day. I wish I knew this language because I found great benefit in it. A man may come to you to accept Islam, and you cannot communicate with him. Or you see a Muslim making mistakes in the obligations of the religion in prayer, or fasting, or zakah, or Hajj, or otherwise, and you cannot speak with him. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) ordered Zayd ibn Thabit to learn the language of the Jews; the Hebrew language; so that when letters came from the Jews, Zayd would read them and write their reply.
So it is not possible to deny the extent of people's need to learn the English language, and that it may be a great means for calling to Allah the Exalted and Majestic.
Suppose you are in a community that knows only the English language, whether they are English or not. How do you call to Allah? Is it possible to call by gesture? No matter how much you gesture, you cannot guide him or call him as you would with words.
So this conception is incorrect.
And it is true that we cannot tell the people whom Allah has blessed with the Arabic language: Switch to the English language, or the Persian, or the Urdu, or others. We do not see that a person should bypass the Arabic language for another language, making it the language of communication and understanding. But for one to learn the language of others for the sake of calling to Allah the Exalted and Mighty, or for worldly interests that are not forbidden, no one denies this at all.
The important thing is that cheating in the English exam is forbidden, and it is not permissible for the grader to be lax in this either. Rather, it is obligatory for him to treat the answer in English as he treats the answer in other study subjects.
There is no difference.
As for a person who passes by cheating and then uses that cheated, weak, and poor success to reach a rank, we see that this is dangerous for his food and drink which he benefits from the salary prescribed for passing this stage. We see that it is obligatory for the person, if he is able, to retake the exam a second time in a correct manner, and let him do so. This is if the cheating was in the certificate that resulted in this salary.
But if it was during the studies, then if he repents to Allah and the last stage by which he obtained the certificate was done correctly, we hope that Allah the Exalted and Mighty will accept his repentance, and that there is no blame on him for what he takes from the salary based on this certificate,When he says: if he cheated in the last certificate by which he obtained this salary, and he cannot retake the exam because he is a coward who cannot be frank. I hope that if the job he holds has no relation to what he cheated in, that this is a correct repentance.