Intentional and Unintentional Involvement in Sin Fatwa No: 384268
- Fatwa Date:2-10-2018
Asalaam aleykoum,I am refering to question( nr. 2700929).My question was if I person will be comtributing to free mixing if the person works in a mixed school and have to registrate students in a mixed school. You answered that there is no harm in the mere registration of students in mixed schools. But in this Fatwa(nr 320440) that is about registrating student in mixed schools and registering and booking appointments for patients, you wrote "The one working in registering the patients or students is not obliged to investigate the people's situations and find out who has a concession and who does not. There is no harm for the Muslim to work in a place where observing the sharee'ah rulings is predominant. However, if the sharee'ah rulings are not predominantly observed, or if they are not observed at all, as is the case in Western countries, then such work would constitute helping others to commit sin." Can you please clarify this, because I really want to know if such jobs (especially registrating students in mixed schools, booking halls for education/training etc.) in the west is lawful or not, and will it constitute helping in sin? Just to clarify, my question is not about if it is lawful to work in a mixed environment, but my question is about whether or not the actual job is lawful and if it constitute helping in sin. Please answer as soon as possible. Barak'Allahu feekom.
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.
It appears –Allah knows best –that the mere registration of students is permissible. The person who enrolls students registers them for study and not for mixing. In addition to this, this mixing is not intended in principle: it may or may not happen; meaning that the student can avoid it.
Therefore the help that appears from this registration does not appear to be an intentional help and it is not a direct help, so it does not have any effect.
The resolution issued by the Council of Islamic Jurists clarified the types of help that are forbidden and those which are not forbidden.
The text of the resolution reads:
"The criterion of helping in sin and transgression is a subject of a long research and discussions among the members of the Academy of Islamic Jurists of America at its fifth session held in Bahrain in 1428 A.H. Their conclusion is that helping in sin and aggression is of four categories:
1 – Intentional involvement: like someone giving another wine for the intention of helping him to drink it.
2 – Unintentional involvement: such as selling what is forbidden that does not have any lawful use if he did not intend helping them in their forbidden use.
3 – Intended but indirect help: like someone giving another a Dirham to buy wine, which also includes causing the killing of someone.
4 – Indirect and unintentional help: like someone who sold what is used in what is lawful and what is forbidden, and did not intend to help the user in what is forbidden. For example, if someone gives a dirham to another person not to buy wine, so if that person bought wine and drank it, there is no sin on the one who gave him the Dirham, as long as he did not intend to help him to do what is forbidden.
This fourth category also includes buying and selling, and hiring the polytheists and dissolute Muslims, and giving money as charity to them. The council's decision forbade the first three categories and permitted the fourth category, which is neither a direct help nor an intentional one." [End of quote]
Allah knows best.