Home » Hanafi Fiqh » Askimam.org » Is it permissible to work as a finance professor?

Is it permissible to work as a finance professor?

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Askimam.org

Assalamu alaikum,

Is it permissible to work as a finance professor at universities? This job has two aspects:

  1. Research: In many cases finance research involves investigating impermissible contracts. For example, a research question is, how does a firm finance its investments? With loan or stock issuance? To answer this researcher also looks at the data and investigates the interest rates on past loans.
  2. Teaching: Teaching mainly involves topics related to stocks and debt. On the stock side, there are impermissible contracts such as options. On the debt side, conventional valuation methods usually involve interest rates and cash flow discounting.

Please kindly advise me about whether this job is permissible. May Allah (swt) be pleased with you. Jazakallah khair.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

Your teaching career as a finance professor has to be analysed in the context of teaching in university. To merely discuss interest related issues without engaging in interest bearing deals is not prohibited.

Students in a university enrol for various reasons. Some students may enrol in your finance lectures to merely understand the topic. Others may enrol to advance in that topic by teaching the topic or practising on it. Since you do not know what a student may do with the knowledge imparted to him, you will not be responsible if he practises on your lectures and promotes conventional finances.

However, as Muslims we are averse to interest and other un-Islamic modes of finances. Therefore, teaching conventional finances in a university is disliked. [1]

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Aboobakr Siddeeq bin Mufti Amjad Mohammad

Student Darul Iftaa 

Azaadville, JHB, South Africa 

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.

____


[1]

جواهر الفقه – (505-514 / 7)

البحر الرائق شرح كنز الدقائق – (8 / 230)

قال رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ ( وَإِجَارَةُ بَيْتٍ لِيُتَّخَذَ بَيْتَ نَارٍ أو بِيعَةً أو كَنِيسَةً أو يُبَاعَ فيه خَمْرٌ بِالسَّوَادِ ) يَعْنِي جَازَ إجَارَةُ الْبَيْتِ لِكَافِرٍ لِيُتَّخَذُ مَعْبَدًا أو بَيْتَ نَارٍ لِلْمَجُوسِ أو يُبَاعَ فيه خَمْرٌ في السَّوَادِ وَهَذَا قَوْلُ الْإِمَامِ

 وَقَالَا يُكْرَهُ كُلُّ ذلك لِقَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى { وَتَعَاوَنُوا على الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَى وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا على الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ } المائدة 2 وَلَهُ أَنَّ الْإِجَارَةَ على مَنْفَعَةِ الْبَيْتِ وَلِهَذَا تَجِبُ الْأُجْرَةُ بِمُجَرَّدِ التَّسْلِيمِ وَلَا مَعْصِيَةَ فيه وَإِنَّمَا الْمَعْصِيَةُ بِفِعْلِ الْمُسْتَأْجِرِ وهو مُخْتَارٌ فيه فَقَطَعَ نِسْبَةَ ذلك إلَى الْمُؤَجِّرِ وَصَارَ كَبَيْعِ الْجَارِيَةِ لِمَنْ لَا يَسْتَبْرِئُهَا أو يَأْتِيهَا في دُبُرِهَا أو بَيْعِ الْغُلَامِ مِمَّنْ يَلُوطُ بِهِ وَالدَّلِيلُ عليه أَنَّهُ لو أَجَّرَهُ لِلسُّكْنَى جَازَ وَلَا بُدَّ فيه من عِبَادَتِهِ

الدر المختار شرح تنوير الأبصار في فقه مذهب الإمام أبي حنيفة – (4 / 268)

( ويكره ) تحريما ( بيع السلاح من أهل الفتنة إن علم ) لأنه إعانة على المعصية ( وبيع ما يتخذ منه كالحديد ) ونحوه يكره لأهل الحرب ( لا ) لأهل البغي لعدم تفرغهم لعمله سلاحا لقرب زوالهم بخلاف أهل الحرب زيلعي

 قلت وأفاد كلامهم أن ما قامت المعصية بعينه يكره بيعه تحريما وإلا فتنزيها

This answer was collected from Askimam.org, which is operated under the supervision of Mufti Ebrahim Desai from South Africa.

Read answers with similar topics: