Assalamu alaykum! I have a question regarding potentially stolen money or ill-gotten money, and stuff bought with such. Please know that I am for some time now affected by waswas, but with help of Allah, I am getting better. One “barieer” that is keeping me to get well from this waswas is the following: Some time ago, my sister applied for a scholarship of some kind (when you are a student with good grades, you apply for that scholarship and you get a certain amount of money). In this case, my sister has gotten that scholarship, and she gave all the money to me. Later on, with a portion of that money a have bought a mobile phone (the amount of that portion is not the total amount paud for that phone), and after that I started get suspicious that she lied or cheated to get that money (faked the year of college or grades to get a better chance of getting scholarship), and I asked her whether she did that or not (lied or cheated), and she said the first time that she did not, but when I asked her again after, she said she did. But I think that maybe she is not sure whether she did it or not, because I think that maybe some time has passed and she perhaps don’t remember. After that, I did not use the rest of the money, and I gave her the phone I bought, and after that she used the test of the money – to buy a car (again the amount of that money she used is not the whole amount paid for the car). My questions arenext: is that mobile phone haram to use? Is that car haram to use, or is everything that is bought through that mobile phone now haram, and everything that is driven by that car haram? ( if I go shopping with that car, and buy some food, is the food haram?).Since it is possible that I will drive that car also, are we obliged only to return the amount of money gained through the scholarship at some point in future, or we have to sell everything that is bought with that money? Please keep in mind that I suffer from waswas, so please understand my situation that I am thinking in this way. Please answer me as fast as you can, since this is really annoying to live with. Assalamu alaykum! May Allah reward you with His best reward.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
If your sister got the scholarship as a gift, then she is the owner of the money. The company considered her application, and independently offered her the gift. The phone and car purchased with that money are halal and permissible to use. Your doubts are baseless and are due to your waswasa.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Rabiul Islam
Student Darul Iftaa
Detroit, MI, USA
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.