If a man wants to build a house on state property and is not permitted to do so, but he gives money to the committee overseeing these works to thereby achieve

The questioner : Currently, there is a widespread issue in Zarqa, specifically regarding building on state property or building without a permit. Naturally, the municipality comes in. There is a municipal committee that prevents you from building. There are ways that we consider not permissible, such as giving a certain amount of money or doing a specific thing. There is a permissible way, which is to go to the municipality and get a permit. If it is on state property, it is forbidden, like land registered with a title deed, and you go to get a permit. Naturally, they impose very harsh conditions on you, especially if the building is old; you have to be two meters away from every side, and so on. The permit might cost as much as the building or half the value of the building, up to a thousand or two thousand dinars. So, for most people now, the practiced method is that I do not know if it is a bribe or not, I do not know, they give a certain amount to this committee and that is it, they stay quiet. I say, O Shaykh, this matter is widespread.

The Shaykh : Yes, there is no doubt that this is a bribe, and it is forbidden by explicit text. It accustoms the one who takes the bribe to consuming people's wealth unjustly, on the one hand, and to violating the regulations, on the other. These regulations were undoubtedly established for the benefit of the people. The system is inherently burdensome for people, without a doubt. Regardless of the fact that some systems may contain injustice and unfairness toward some classes, as a principle, imagine a town like this one if it had no building regulations. Imagine how many problems there would be among the people, and the resulting massacres and severe conflicts. This person enters from here and that person comes out from there, and everyone does as they please and builds however they want. Therefore, the establishment of these systems and laws must be viewed from their foundation, which is for the benefit of the nation. Accordingly, we should keep in mind that our adherence to these systems and laws is our support for this system, which is in our interest. Thus, if one of us wants to violate this system, he may violate it, in my opinion, if he is compelled to do so, on the condition that the complete system includes punishing this violator with some penalty. But not by the way of bribery. Is the answer clear?

The questioner: Yes.

The questioner : There is a penalty in the system.

The Shaykh : I know that. Naturally, we used to live like that in Damascus, and I am among the people who built in Damascus on common land.

The questioner : You mean state land?

The Shaykh : No, common land. But here, I built on land that you call "Qoshan" and "Tabu" with a legal and lawful permit, and so on. But I have learned through practice here and there that some laws punish the violator by imposing a tax, for example, or a fine or a penalty, and so on. The penalty might be severe, such as demolition from the start. So, a person may, if compelled, take the path of violating a law that imposes a penalty from the law itself, rather than violating both the Shari'ah and the law by bribing an employee or a committee that changes the entire plan for the sake of Zayd, Bakr, and 'Amr.

The questioner : O our Shaykh, sometimes a matter arises where, if one uses bribery in this sense, one cannot get out of it. For example, the electricity company in the camps now; many electricity wires pass over the houses. If a person builds a house or something, the children go up on the wire and might get hurt. The official way to remove the electricity wire is to submit the paperwork to the engineer, and it goes through several officials and so on, and it takes several months. After these months, they come with an inspection, and they may approve it or they may not. The opposite scenario is that the electricity company's car is in the camp, and a person who is not harmed by the electricity wire says to the driver, "I have this problem, and you know the children..." He says to him, "I am ready to remove it for you now." The one with the driver knows the trade, so he takes five dinars before removing the wire, and he does not cut the wire before taking the five dinars. In a minute, he cuts the wire and ties it in another place. I do not know about this scenario, especially since it did not invalidate a right, nor did it make a wrong right. What is the ruling of the Shari'ah on this scenario?

The Shaykh : In this scenario, a question arises: Is there a legal remedy or not? The answer is that it does not concern me whether the answer is negative or positive. If this scenario has a legal remedy, one should follow the legal path and stay away from bribery. If there is no remedy within the law, and in that case, as you described, it exposes some people to harm from this wire extending in front of a house, then it is permissible to avert the harm.

The questioner : It is permissible to avert the harm?

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
The student : Excuse me. A very similar situation: suppose the municipal committee wants to demolish the house, and you paid twenty or fifty dinars and submitted it to the committee, and it was cancelled. Is it the same situation?

The Shaykh : This situation is exactly the same as the previous one.

The questioner : They want to demolish it.

The Shaykh : It is the same as the previous scenario where one gives to the committee in order for them to approve his work; it is the same. He wants them to demolish it, not because he violated the system.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : The whole matter comes back to violating the system from the start.

The questioner : The system may punish by demolition, or it may punish by a fine. If it is a fine, it is permissible for him to pay it. If it is the demolition of the house, it would be a loss beyond loss for him...

The Shaykh : No problem. Here, the camel has entered its own stable. The scenarios are different.

The questioner : The violation itself is not permissible except...

The Shaykh : Yes. May Allah have mercy on you.