Is it permissible to give a bribe in order to recover a usurped right, and its scenario
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The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.The Shaykh : The honorable one, is it permissible to give a bribe to extract a usurped right, or is the right not to be given?
The Shaykh: The reality is that this issue has different scenarios, so the question must be specified, because I believe it is not permissible in most cases. What is the usurped money, for example, in your speech? A scenario?
The questioner: A scenario of a man who has a right, for example, in a certain department. The officer will not issue it unless you give him money, or the officer issues it and wrongs you.
The Shaykh: You have not clarified the issue to me. Does this officer have money belonging to the state?
The questioner: I have a right in a department in the state.
The Shaykh: Do you have money, or what?
Another questioner: In customs, professor, the goods do not come out unless you give him a bribe so that he releases them. If you do not give him a bribe, the goods will be delayed, and this may harm you. That is, every time they are delayed, you will suffer a loss.
The Shaykh: Is this an example?
Another questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Okay, if the intention of this example is that the goods do not come out of customs except by a bribe that goes into the officer's pocket, then this is permissible. But if the intention is that they do not come out except by paying the tax imposed by the state, then it is not permissible to give a bribe to escape the tax. Are the two scenarios clear? Are the two scenarios clear? That is, we cannot now, especially regarding the laws in force in this time, develop the man-made laws all at once, and each of us according to his opinion and independent legal reasoning. This is absolutely impossible, because a portion of these laws is such that a jurist can only acknowledge their benefit for the community, and at the same time, he must acknowledge that there are taxes that should not be legislated. But who is able to distinguish these from those? The general public? The general obligated people? No. So, regarding, for example, customs and the taxes that are imposed, if there is a general system imposed on all people who enter with goods, that a general tax is imposed on these people by the state, then here it is not permissible for a Muslim to pay any of the officers in order to violate the system adopted by the state so that he can be relieved of this tax. Because here two matters arise. The first is what you mentioned earlier, that, my brother, how do you know that this tax is injustice? It may be justice. So it is not permissible for us to open the door for every individual among the Muslims to control the laws according to their opinions, if not according to their desires. The second thing is that by paying the bribe to this officer, you have accustomed him to betraying his duty. And this duty, sometimes, there is no injustice in it by consensus. I give you a simple, easy example. A man wants to submit an application for a certain matter and finds himself in front of dozens of people, so he bribes the officer to put him ahead of the others. This bribe is certainly forbidden, and that his bypassing is the system of order that Islam commands. That is, as is said in a hadith whose meaning is authentic and whose basis is not authentic So you imagine that you were the first to submit your application, then the tenth person came and, by a crooked way contrary to the system of the Shari'ah, became the first. Would that please you? Of course not. And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: Sahih al-Bukhari 13 So giving this Muslim the bribe to that officer so that he can process his transaction before the transactions of those who came before him is a forbidden bribe without doubt. It is not permissible for the briber to offer it to the one who takes the bribe, just as it is not permissible for the one who takes the bribe to accept it. So opening the door to bribery to violate the existing law that applies to all people has another harm, which is accustomed the officers to taking bribes. And here we fall into violating the saying of He Blessed and Exalted is He: [Al-Ma'idah 5:2] On this basis, you can take the answer to your previous question.
Abu Layla: This brother has been here for an hour...
The Shaykh: The reality is that this issue has different scenarios, so the question must be specified, because I believe it is not permissible in most cases. What is the usurped money, for example, in your speech? A scenario?
The questioner: A scenario of a man who has a right, for example, in a certain department. The officer will not issue it unless you give him money, or the officer issues it and wrongs you.
The Shaykh: You have not clarified the issue to me. Does this officer have money belonging to the state?
The questioner: I have a right in a department in the state.
The Shaykh: Do you have money, or what?
Another questioner: In customs, professor, the goods do not come out unless you give him a bribe so that he releases them. If you do not give him a bribe, the goods will be delayed, and this may harm you. That is, every time they are delayed, you will suffer a loss.
The Shaykh: Is this an example?
Another questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh: Okay, if the intention of this example is that the goods do not come out of customs except by a bribe that goes into the officer's pocket, then this is permissible. But if the intention is that they do not come out except by paying the tax imposed by the state, then it is not permissible to give a bribe to escape the tax. Are the two scenarios clear? Are the two scenarios clear? That is, we cannot now, especially regarding the laws in force in this time, develop the man-made laws all at once, and each of us according to his opinion and independent legal reasoning. This is absolutely impossible, because a portion of these laws is such that a jurist can only acknowledge their benefit for the community, and at the same time, he must acknowledge that there are taxes that should not be legislated. But who is able to distinguish these from those? The general public? The general obligated people? No. So, regarding, for example, customs and the taxes that are imposed, if there is a general system imposed on all people who enter with goods, that a general tax is imposed on these people by the state, then here it is not permissible for a Muslim to pay any of the officers in order to violate the system adopted by the state so that he can be relieved of this tax. Because here two matters arise. The first is what you mentioned earlier, that, my brother, how do you know that this tax is injustice? It may be justice. So it is not permissible for us to open the door for every individual among the Muslims to control the laws according to their opinions, if not according to their desires. The second thing is that by paying the bribe to this officer, you have accustomed him to betraying his duty. And this duty, sometimes, there is no injustice in it by consensus. I give you a simple, easy example. A man wants to submit an application for a certain matter and finds himself in front of dozens of people, so he bribes the officer to put him ahead of the others. This bribe is certainly forbidden, and that his bypassing is the system of order that Islam commands. That is, as is said in a hadith whose meaning is authentic and whose basis is not authentic
Whoever precedes to a permissible thing, it is his
من سبق إلى مباح فهو لهNone of you will have faith till he wishes for his (Muslim) brother what he likes for himself.
لا يؤمن أحدكم حتّى يحبّ لأخيه ما يحبّ لنفسهAnd cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression
و تعاونوا على البرّ و التّقوى و لا تعاونوا على الإثم و العدوانAbu Layla: This brother has been here for an hour...
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.