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Income earned from a job based on forging documents

Question

assalamu alaikum, my husband wants to do a busuness that involves doing visa processing for people who want to go to USA , UK etc.....and during dat process he has to make fake documents dat involve...making documents dat are not true...the information he submits is all lies...like bank statements , fake property documents, fake certificates..... so i wud likek to ask if such income is halaal or not???..i mean the foundation is on fake documents ....pls help.. my husband doesnt understand me...pls give a reply in detail with reference to hadith and quran ..so dat any sense goes into him...

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

Earning one's livelihood by forging documents, certificates and the like of that is an evil source of earning as it is forbidden to cheat, make false testimonies and lie. As a matter of fact, the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "Whoever cheats is not one of us." [Muslim] Moreover, the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: ''and a man continues to tell lies till he is written before Allaah, as a liar." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] For more benefit in this regard, please refer to Fataawa 84658 and 87821.

The person you inquired about tells lies, forges documents and cheats by statement, action, and writing, which causes a great evil. Therefore, this man is obliged to fear Allaah and immediately stop doing this job. Besides, he should seek his provision from permissible means and they are so many.

Thus, the earning of this man from this job, is considered ill-gotten and he is not allowed to own it. His earning is like the earning of a magician, or a prostitute, or other similar earnings which one gets from a forbidden source.

Consequently, this money should be spent on public utilities of Muslims, like orphanages, nursing homes, or may be donated to the poor and destitute.

Allaah Knows best.

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