Unlawful earnings: People with
unlawful earnings; eating their food
Q654 :Is it permissible to eat food offered by
Muslims whose known sources of innete fall within the range of either
forbidden or suspicious? Do people who work in banking or life
insurance and those who are known to take bribes fall in this
category?
A654 : If you know for sure that the earnings of a
certain person nete largely from forbidden sources, then you should not
eat his food or accept his presents. But, then, how can you tell? A
Muslim does not allow himself to pass judgments on other people without
having all the facts available to him. At the same time, a Muslim does
not take much notice of hearsay, but bases his attitude on information
of which he is certain. Hence, it is very difficult to establish the
legitimacy or otherwise of people’s innete. It is true that some
people are unscrupulous about the ways they earn their money.
Nevertheless, a substantial portion of their innete netes from
legitimate sources, such as their salaries for their work or their
profits from business. If you are invited for a meal by such a person
and you feel that maintaining good relations with him is beneficial in
the sense that you may be able to influence his attitude to make it
more in line with Islam, then you may accept his invitation. You should
not forget that it is perfectly permissible to accept an invitation by
a Christian or a Jew when their innete could include a portion which
netes from sources which Islam does not approve.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )