salaam i am a 21 year old girl and studying medicine. u will find my problem very silly but believe me i have been suffering from mental torture since two years. before admission when i was giving my practical exam of chemistry of intermediate, my preparation was not so good and i am weak in performing practicals since beginning. so i asked the practical result directly from my friend and did my written work by myself. i got good marks and gave entry test and finally got admission in a good medical college. now i have very strange feeling that if i hadn't asked my friend the result, i wouldn't have been able to complete the practical and i would have failed. due to being failed i could not appear in entry test and my seat would have been given to someone else. i feel as if i have cheated. although it is not a true cheating but i always have a feeling of imperfection. i keep on thinking that my addmission is not genuine. due to this problem now i am not that good at studies as i was before. i get failed in almost all da tests please tell me as my friend told me the result, should i call it a help from Allah, or should i call call it a cheating? is it really a sinful act? Just before entry test i asked Allah to give me addmission if it is "jaez" for me, for i didn't want to spoil my akhirat just for the sake of addmission. so if He has given me addmission, does it mean i deserved addmission? Allah bless you.

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.

If by your statement “I asked the practical result directly from my friend” you mean that your friend did the test on your behalf (instead of you) while you were required to do the test yourself, then what your friend did is forbidden and this act is considered as cheating and deceit.

As regards your supplication regarding getting admission to the university and the fact that it has been realized for you, then this does not mean that the cheating and deceit that you did were permissible.

However, you are obliged to take the initiative to repent to Allaah, and whoever repents, Allaah accepts his repentance. So, you should have trust in your Lord and do good in the future.

We advise you to work hard so that you would get your specialization skills in order to have the right to get its certificate and so that you would be able to do your job perfectly after graduation and so you would deserve your salary. Shaykh Ibn Baaz was asked about the job and the salary of someone who got his certificate through cheating in exams, and he answered saying: “He (such person) is obliged to repent to Allaah from what he did and he should regret it. As regards his job, it is valid (lawful) and his salary is lawful as long as he is doing his duty that he is entrusted to do, praise be to Allaah….”

Allaah Knows best.