Q653 :If a man makes a great deal of unlawful
earnings, will that affect his wife and children? How can he escape
punishment on the Day of Judgment?
A653 : There is a basic rule in Islam which tells us
that everyone is responsible for his or her own actions. No one shares
the burden of another. However, if this man’s wife and children (if
they are adults) know of his unlawful earnings and accept them or
indeed encourage him in his unlawful actions, then they share his sin.
That is not because they are his wife and children, but because they
know of his action and they encourage him to proceed with it. They are
responsible for that encouragement. What this means in effect is that
if the wife is ignorant of her husband’s activities and if the children
are too young to know or judge their father’s practice, they are free
of blame. Allah does not punish one person by inflicting suffering on
another. This man is certainly responsible for what he does, but the
way Allah punishes him is not by inflicting that punishment on his
children or his wife. Allah is the most just of judges and He does not
punish one person for another person’s mistake. Having said that, I
have to point out that such a person deprives his dependents, whom
Allah has entrusted to his care, of the benefits of living on lawfully
earned money. What is lawful brings goodness and enhances talents and
abilities. With what is forbidden netes gloom and a stifling
atmosphere. To escape punishment by Allah for such a sin, the first
thing this man should do is repent of his action. His repentance must
be sincere and netbined with a resolve not to indulge in such an
activity again. Secondly, and equally important, he should return to
everyone what he got from him by unlawful means. It is open to him to
return these in any way which is suitable and which does not land him
in trouble. If he cannot identify those who have claims against him,
then he should isolate unlawful earnings and give them away as charity.
He must not keep them with him.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )