In this age of information technology the internet has become part of daily life. It carries news from around the world in an instant and spreads good and useful messages, but it can spread wrongdoing too. So is running an internet service business halal? Ittefaq's religion page answers the question.
The governing principle in Islam, it says, is that an item which can be used for both permitted and forbidden purposes may be given or sold. Both good and bad are done through the internet, so trading in it is permitted. If a buyer uses it for sin, the responsibility is the buyer's. But if it is known for certain that a person will use it only for sin, selling to that person is not permitted.
The piece cites the Quran: help one another in righteousness and piety, and do not help one another in sin and transgression (Surah Al-Ma'idah, verse 2). A work of jurisprudence holds that whatever is beneficial is permitted and so may be sold, because Allah created everything on earth for people (Al-Fiqh al-Islami wa Adillatuhu, 4/217).
However, trading in, selling or giving away something that is mostly used for forbidden purposes is not permitted (Fatawa Hindiyya, 3/116).
Where a matter has both a permitted and a forbidden side, piety means keeping away from it as far as possible, since no one can know what every customer will use it for. From another angle, though, an internet business is permitted because it is a service. The piece is by Ittefaq's digital desk.
Source: Ittefaq
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