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Which Job to Choose?

Answered as per Maliki Fiqh by BinBayyah.net

I was working at a Gulf-based holding company, and my job duties included reviewing and editing agreements concluded between the group’s subsidiaries and banks, most of which involved interest-based transactions. For this reason, after about two years, I joined another company as Director of the Legal Department, whose tasks are to undertake and provide consultation to new establishments, including traditional banks, Islamic banks and companies with haram business activities such as trading in alcohol, managing nightclubs, etc. Is my current job halal or haram? And what should I do?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. The questioner should try to return to his first job, as it is much better than his current work, which facilitates usury and has an evident basis of illegitimacy. The company helps in the foundation of firms that provide haram services such as alcohol, nightclubs, etc. Hence, his former work, where he reviewed contracts, is by far better than the company where he is working now.
More preferably, we advise the questioner to look for a job at a Shari`ah-compliant bank or company or any other job that has nothing whatsoever to do with usury. The current job entails direct engagement in usury. Naturally, the farther one is from factors of illegitimacy, the better. Here, the current job has a closer relation to things which are haram than the previous one. Thereupon, we advise him to search for another job and leave this job.
We ask Allah to grant him, us and all the Muslims success and prosperity.

This answer was collected from BinBayyah.net, which contains of feature articles and fatawa by world renowned ‘Alim, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, from Mauritania.

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