Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Enter Question
View By Subject
Fatwa Of The Week
Selected Fatwa
Fatwa CenterSalary of Hostess Is Forbidden
Question
What about ruling on income of an airhostess,Can it be acceptable in the path of ALLAH.I mean that Can she pay zakat or do udhiyyah or do umrah,hajj with such an income because her job violates principles of Islam and the Hadeeth in which the Prophet (blessings and peace of ALLAH be upon him) said: “O people, ALLAH is Good and He, therefore, accepts only that which is good”. (Muslim)
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
Any person who has religious knowledge knows without any doubt that the work of a hostess in airline companies in the usual manner that is known today is forbidden and a great evil because this work involves violations of the Commandments of Allah, such as not wearing the Hijaab and being dressed immodestly as it is known in hostesses’ dress, in addition to mixing, touching and shaking hands with non-Mahram men, travelling without a Mahram, and offering wine.
In addition to other matters about which there is no doubt that they are forbidden.
The Fatwa of the Standing Committee reads:
"Working as a hostess for airline companies requires that women travel abroad without seeking the permission of their husbands and without the accompaniment of a Mahram (spouse or permanently unmarriageable relative) as is the case in reality today. In working as such, a woman is more likely to mix freely with men and them seeing from her what they are not allowed to see, which all are forbidden…..” [End of quote]
The view that we adopt here in Islamweb is that the salary that a woman earns from this job is impure and forbidden because it is earned from a forbidden source.
Since this is the case, she does not own it and does not give Zakat on it; rather, she must dispose of it by spending it on the general interests of the Muslims, or give it to the poor and destitute as a way of getting rid of it and not with the intention of getting a reward from it.
If she spends from her salary in charity or sacrifice and other acts of worship, then Allah is Tayyib (which implies pure) and does not accept charity from someone whose money is earned from an evil source.
In the Hadeeth, the Prophet said: "O people, Allah is Tayyib (which implies pure), and He does not accept except that which is pure." [Muslim]
Nonetheless, if she performs Hajj or 'Umrah with it, the scholars said that she is exempted from the obligation of performing them.
An-Nawawi 
said: "If a person performs Hajj with forbidden money or on a stolen animal, he is sinful and his Hajj is valid and sufficient according to the view of our school; this is the view of Abu Haneefah, Maalik and Al-‘Abdari, and it is also the view of most jurists. However, Imam Ahmad said: 'It (his Hajj) is not sufficient (it does not free him from the obligation of Hajj).'" [End of quote]
For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 228910 and 128302.
Also, for more benefit on the pre-conditions for a woman to work, please refer to Fatwa 82399, and to Fatwa 83702 on Hijaab.
Allah knows best.
Search Fatwa
Fatwa Subject
