Is it permissible for a student to cheat in English and claim that it is the language of the disbelievers, and is it permissible for the teacher to turn a blind eye to cheating in this subject?
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The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
May Allah guide you and protect you, O honorable Shaykh: You know that the exams are approaching, and some students consider cheating in the English subject permissible, saying: "This is the language of the disbelievers and it is not permissible to learn it." What is the ruling on this? And is it permissible for the teacher to ignore cheating in this subject? Also, what is required of one who has previously cheated in this subject believing it was permissible? And is there any element of prohibition in the money that comes to him from his certificate? Please inform us, may Allah guide you.
The Shaykh : Yes.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The exam, which is called a test, 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 that allows him to pass this stage to the next stage, 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 each stage. If this is the case, then it is not permissible for the student to cheat in it, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1315Sahih (Darussalam) This is general for all cheating. Also, because the authorities have established specific things based on these certificates, such as salaries and ranks, and the like. How can one obtain these salaries and these rewards or ranks, which are the professional ladder? How is it permissible for you to take these ranks or these salaries when you have not reached the level you deserve 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 one of the conditions for passing this stage.
As for his saying that 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. And the language is not something a person creates; the language is not something a person creates. Even though we see, as is the reality, that the Arabic language is the best of languages and the noblest 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), but this is a famous global language spoken by both the Muslim and the disbeliever. Then it is prescribed for you, and then you may need it one day. I wish that I knew this language, because I found a great benefit in it. A man comes to you to accept Islam, and you are not able to communicate with him. You see a Muslim neglecting some of the obligations of the religion in prayer, or in fasting, or in zakah, or in Hajj, or in other things, and you are not able to speak with him. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered Zayd ibn Thabit to learn the language of the Jews, the Hebrew language. He ordered him to learn it so that when the letters from the Jews came, Zayd would read them and write their replies.
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 English or non-English. How do you call them to Allah? Is it possible to call them by gesture? No matter how much you gesture, you cannot guide them or call them as you call them with words.
So this conception is an incorrect conception. It is true that we cannot say to the people whom Allah has blessed with the Arabic language: "Move to the English language, or to the Persian or Urdu or other languages." We do not see that a person should bypass the Arabic language to another language and make it the language of communication and understanding. But for him to learn the language of others for the sake of calling to Allah the Exalted and Majestic, or for worldly interests that are not forbidden, no one denies this at all.
So 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 to treat the answer in the English language as he treats the answer in other study subjects, and there is no difference.
As for a person who succeeds through cheating and then reaches, through this cheated, weak, and poor success, a rank among the ranks, we see that this is dangerous for his food and drink which he benefits from the salary determined based on success in this stage. And we see that it is obligatory for the person, if he is able, to retake the exam a second time in a correct manner, so 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 repented to Allah and the last stage in which he obtained the certificate was obtained in a correct manner, we hope that Allah the Exalted and Majestic will accept his repentance, and that there is no blame on him for what he takes from the salary based on this certificate.
May Allah guide you and protect you, O honorable Shaykh: You know that the exams are approaching, and some students consider cheating in the English subject permissible, saying: "This is the language of the disbelievers and it is not permissible to learn it." What is the ruling on this? And is it permissible for the teacher to ignore cheating in this subject? Also, what is required of one who has previously cheated in this subject believing it was permissible? And is there any element of prohibition in the money that comes to him from his certificate? Please inform us, may Allah guide you.
The Shaykh : Yes.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The exam, which is called a test, 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 that allows him to pass this stage to the next stage, 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 each stage. If this is the case, then it is not permissible for the student to cheat in it, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
Whoever cheats, he is not one of us.
من غش فليس مناSo 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 one of the conditions for passing this stage.
As for his saying that 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. And the language is not something a person creates; the language is not something a person creates. Even though we see, as is the reality, that the Arabic language is the best of languages and the noblest 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), but this is a famous global language spoken by both the Muslim and the disbeliever. Then it is prescribed for you, and then you may need it one day. I wish that I knew this language, because I found a great benefit in it. A man comes to you to accept Islam, and you are not able to communicate with him. You see a Muslim neglecting some of the obligations of the religion in prayer, or in fasting, or in zakah, or in Hajj, or in other things, and you are not able to speak with him. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered Zayd ibn Thabit to learn the language of the Jews, the Hebrew language. He ordered him to learn it so that when the letters from the Jews came, Zayd would read them and write their replies.
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 English or non-English. How do you call them to Allah? Is it possible to call them by gesture? No matter how much you gesture, you cannot guide them or call them as you call them with words.
So this conception is an incorrect conception. It is true that we cannot say to the people whom Allah has blessed with the Arabic language: "Move to the English language, or to the Persian or Urdu or other languages." We do not see that a person should bypass the Arabic language to another language and make it the language of communication and understanding. But for him to learn the language of others for the sake of calling to Allah the Exalted and Majestic, or for worldly interests that are not forbidden, no one denies this at all.
So 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 to treat the answer in the English language as he treats the answer in other study subjects, and there is no difference.
As for a person who succeeds through cheating and then reaches, through this cheated, weak, and poor success, a rank among the ranks, we see that this is dangerous for his food and drink which he benefits from the salary determined based on success in this stage. And we see that it is obligatory for the person, if he is able, to retake the exam a second time in a correct manner, so 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 repented to Allah and the last stage in which he obtained the certificate was obtained in a correct manner, we hope that Allah the Exalted and Majestic will accept his repentance, and that there is no blame on him for what he takes from the salary based on this certificate.