After Allaah guided me, I resolved never to cheat in exams, and this continued till now. Unfortunately, though, I fell into the sin of cheating in my final exams. Now this is causing me great distress as I think that I might be surpassing someone who is more eligible than me because I cheated in the final exam and only those who qualify for the final exam are eligible to participate in an entrance exam. If I do the entrance exam and qualify, then what is the ruling on getting admitted in college if I honestly get the qualifying rank in the entrance exam? Is repentance enough, or should I leave this entrance exam? Is repentance for cheating in the final exams enough? How will I give back the rights of someone who passed the final exams honestly if I scored more than him in the entrance exam without cheating? I also think that I would have passed the exams without cheating. I cannot concentrate on my studies due to this. Please reply with a specific fatwa as I have already checked other fatwas.

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.

All forms and kinds of cheating are forbidden, as the Prophet said, “Whoever cheats us (deceives us) is not one of us.” [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]

Whoever cheats must repent to Allah from it like for all other sins and be determined not to do it again in the future.

The fact that you regretted doing it and feel sorry because of cheating are evidence of your sincere repentance, so you should try to be righteous in the future, as you are commanded, and not do this again.

As regards entering college, then there is nothing wrong with it, and enrolling in college is not transgressing the rights of others because all clever students enter college, as you mentioned, so you should continue your studies and not give any importance to this matter so that this will not turn into Waswasah (obsessive whispers); otherwise Waswasah may ruin your whole life.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen was asked, “I graduated from high school, but I cheated in some English subjects. Now I am about to enter university, what should I do? Should I repent from this?”

He replied, “You must repent to Allah and not do this again, because cheating in the exam in any subject is indeed cheating, and it is proven that the Prophet said, ‘Whoever cheats is not one of us.’ So you have to repent to Allah and enter the university with repentance and continue to avoid cheating. If you get a university degree without cheating, then Allah accepts repentance from His slaves and forgives sins.”

Allah knows best.