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Fatwa CenterEmbraced Islam but had unlawful partnership with her non-Muslim husband
Question
As salamu alaikum respected Scholar,
there is a woman who took Shahaada now alhamdulillah. She is married for 23 years and she and her husband (he is a non Muslim) are leading a company togehter. This company exists since 30 years and it´s a family company. They employ 15 workers and they also support a poor family from Africa.
Now the problem is, they are selling beverages and 40% of these beverages are alcoholic beverages. It´s not possible to eliminate the branch "alcoholic beverages".
What should she do? Is she allowed to keep working there but not to sell the alcohol? Is she allowed to live from her husbands money which is earned by selling alcoholic beverages?
I hope you can help her insha´Allah, jazzak Allahu khairan wa alaikums salam
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.
First of all, we thank and praise Allaah Who guided you to Islam and we ask Him to make you firm and steadfast on His Religion until the Day you meet Him.
We advise you to seek beneficial knowledge, perform good deeds and befriend righteous and pious women, as these are the best things that help a Muslim remain steadfast on his/her religion.
With regard to the bond of marriage, this woman should know that when a wife becomes a Muslim, her relationship with her husband comes to an end if he is a non-Muslim, and she is not permitted to stay with him and it is not lawful for her to allow him to have sexual intercourse with her once she becomes a Muslim; Allaah Says (what means): {…then do not return them to the disbelievers; they are not lawful [wives] for them, nor are they lawful [husbands] for them.}[Quran 60:10] However, if her husband embraces Islam before the end of her waiting period, then he is entitled to keep her as his wife, otherwise she is entitled to marry another man after the expiry of her waiting period. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 84226.
Furthermore, it is not permissible for this woman to continue working in this company which sells intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks) even if she is a partner; she may take her share from it and the profits that she earned from it while she was still a non-Muslim as she is forgiven for it because Allaah Says (what means): {So whoever has received an admonition from his Lord and desists may have what is past, and his affair rests with Allaah.}[Quran 2:275] However, if she earned some profit after she had become a Muslim, then she is obliged to get rid of it by spending it on charitable fields with the intention of getting rid of ill-gotten money. Moreover, we advise her not to work in this company even if the nature of her work has nothing to do with the selling of intoxicants, because her presence in that place may lead her to see prohibitions and this is not allowed unless one has a religious reason, like forbidding evil and the like.
As regards a woman eating from the money of her husband, then if his entire money is ill-gotten money, then it is forbidden for her to benefit from it except in case of necessity, but if his money is a mixture of lawful money and ill-gotten money, then in this case it is disliked for her to benefit from it but it is not forbidden for her to do so as we clarified in Fataawa 91257 and 87680.
Finally, we remind you of what we already mentioned [at the beginning of this Fatwa] about this wife in case her husband is still a non-Muslim [that she is not permitted to stay with him and it is not lawful for her to allow him to have sexual intercourse with her.]
Allaah Knows best.
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