Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas
Question: Assalam aleykum
I’ve recently gotten a job for a Hair Restoration Company as an accountant. This company sells hair products to help with balding and also sells Hair Systems (wigs). I have been reading a lot lately and I am kind of worried that my money earned from working with this company is haram since the majority of there sales are from Hair Systems (Wigs). I have nothing to do with the actual selling, promoting, or producing of the the Hair Systems (wigs) themselves since I am just the accountant for them and do all there book keeping and recording of sales and reconciliations and work in the back office. With all this being said, are my earnings from this company Halal or Haram?
Answer: assalamu alaykum
The permissibility of one’s work rests on two factors:
(i) the actual job being permitted, and
(ii) the course of income for one’s salary being permitted.
Regarding the job of an accountant, the general rule is that it is a permitted line of work.
As for the source of your income, the main problem a Hair Restoration Company potentially poses is the sale of real human hair. Synthetic wigs are permitted to sell, and the the money earned from their sale is also valid. However, the vast majority of scholars do not permit benefitting from real human hair or selling it.
Thus, if the majority of the income generated by this company is through the sale of wigs that are made from real human hair, and there is no other substantial source of permitted wealth it generates to pay its employees, then the income received from such a company would not be valid.
In this context, it is best to find alternative work. However, this does not have to be done immediately. Rather, one can continue working in their current job until they secure another form of employment. You should note though that the situation you are in is not as severe as many others, such as working as an accountant for an insurance company, since there is a minority opinion that deems the sale of real human hair to be valid. According to this opinion, it would seem that there is be no issue with your employment and income even if the majority of the company’s wealth was generated through the sale of human hair. Nonetheless, this is a minority opinion. (al-Ajnas, 2:24)
[Ustadh] Salman Younas
Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman where he spent five years studying Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Oxford and continues his traditional studies with scholars in the United Kingdom.