I am a student currently studying outside my home country. To meet expenses I am working part time in a Software House as Software Engineer. My employer (Software House) develops and maintains website for lottery playing. People buy lottery tickets and take part in lottery through this website. My work in this project is to test databases and website, which is similar to a clerk (accountant) in older days who maintains records of all customers in written about customers who have bought the lottery tickets. My question is that is it permissible to work for this software house or not? And can I use the money earned as salary, for my personal use like house rent, tuition fees etc?
Answer
(Fatwa: 292/245/B=1433)
It is helping in sin to offer your services as a part time job in the department of website designing for lottery playing i.e. testing databases and website. And it is not free from karahiyah to derive income from such job. It is not pure earning. However you can use it in severe compulsion.
Allah (Subhana Wa Ta’ala) knows Best
Darul Ifta,
Darul Uloom Deoband