I used some haram wealth to design software through which I was able to acquire a great deal of wealth. I want to get rid of this means of earning a living, which is this software. I want the wealth that I earn to be halal. Is it permissible for me to erase this software and remove it from the market, then redesign it, but using halal wealth? Or is it haram for me to do that, because I now know how successful this software is and the huge amount of profit I will make as a result of designing it from haram wealth?
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4,02909/01/2023
He designed software using haram wealth; does he have to get rid of this software?
Question: 226584
Answer
Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.
You do not have to erase this software and redesign it from scratch.
Rather what you must do is get rid of an amount equal to the haram capital that you used to design this software. As for the profits, they are yours to keep, and there is nothing wrong with you benefiting from them after that.
But if this haram wealth was stolen or seized by force from others, then what you must do in that case is return the stolen capital to them, in addition to half of the current value of the software, and half of the profits that you acquired from it.
If you do not know the identity of the owners of the wealth that was stolen or seized by force, then you should give this amount of money in charity on their behalf.
This answer is a summary of what our shaykh, ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Barrak (may Allah preserve him) told us.
And Allah knows best.
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Source:
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid
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