Can he eat from his father’s wealth although its source is a café in which there are haraam things?

Question: 72880

What is the ruling on the one whose profit comes from a café? Here I would like to explain a few things to you:

1- Using the satellite dish for nothing else but to show music video clips and football (soccer) matches.

2- Playing dominoes and dice. The customers play on the basis that the loser will pay for the drinks of everyone else, or he will give some money to the winner, and the café will have a share of this money.

3- Smoking arghilehs (“hubble bubbles”) on a large scale.

4- Young men sitting to watch the women in the street, most of whom are uncovered and adorned (tabarruj).

5- The people sitting in the café joke with one another in a bad way, using foul language.

My question is: is the money that comes from the café mixed money? Can I eat from this wealth? I cannot find work. The café belongs to my father and he is the one who is running it.

Answer

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Using the satellite dish in the manner described, smoking the arghileh, gambling, using foul language and looking at adorned woman are all obviously haraam actions. The sin is on the one who does them and on the one who helps him to do that, or approves of it without denouncing it. Undoubtedly opening a café in which these evil things are done is haraam, and the money that comes as a result of these evil things or for enabling people to do them is also haraam, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Help you one another in Al‑Birr and At‑Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is Severe in punishment”

[al-Maa’idah 5:2]

“And it has already been revealed to you in the Book (this Qur’aan) that when you hear the Verses of Allaah being denied and mocked at, then sit not with them, until they engage in a talk other than that; (but if you stayed with them) certainly in that case you would be like them. Surely, Allaah will collect the hypocrites and disbelievers all together in Hell”

[al-Nisa’ 4:140]

al-Qurtubi (may Allaah have mercy on him)said: “then sit not with them, until they engage in a talk other than that” means, other than kufr. “(but if you stayed with them) certainly in that case you would be like them” this indicates that it is obligatory to avoid keeping company with sinners if they openly commit evil, because the one who does not avoid them is approving of their actions, and approving of kufr is kufr. Allaah says: “(but if you stayed with them) certainly in that case you would be like them” so everyone who sits in a sinful gathering and does not denounce them, shares the burden of sin equally with them.

He should denounce them if they speak of sin and commit sin. If he is not able to denounce them then he should get up and leave, so that he will not be one of those mentioned in this verse. End quote.

And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When Allaah forbids eating a thing, He also forbids its price.” Narrated by Ahmad and Abu Dawood (3026); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, no. 5107.

For more information on the prohibition on playing with dice, see the answer to questions no. 14095 and 22305.

If the loser is required to pay money to the winner or buy drinks, this is undoubtedly a kind of gambling. See question no. 20962.

Secondly:

If your father has another source of income, or in the café there are things that it is permissible to sell, such as tea, coffee and so on, then your father’s wealth is a mixture of halaal and haraam. In that case there is no sin on you for eating from that wealth, so long as you need to, but it is better not to.

It says in Haashiyat al-Dasooqi (2/277): Note that if most of a person’s wealth is halaal and a small part of it is haraam, then it is permissible to deal with him and borrow money from him and eat from his wealth… but if most of his wealth is haraam and a small part of it is halaal, then it is makrooh to deal with him, borrow money from him and eat from his wealth.

But if all of his wealth is haraam, in that case it is not allowed to deal with him and he should not be allowed to handle money or anything. End quote.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: If the father’s earnings are haraam, then it is essential to advise him. Either advise him yourselves, if you can, or seek the help of knowledgeable people who can convince him, or seek the help of his friends who may convince him to avoid this haraam earning. If that is not possible, then you can eat as much as is necessary, and there is no sin on you in that case, but you should not take more than you need, because there is some doubt about eating from one whose income is haraam. End quote from Fataawa Islamiyyah (3/452).