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Fatwa CenterRuling on disposing of ill-gotten money
Question
Salam alaykum When I left a haram job, I had saved some money from that source. I, then, started a halal job. I gave away a portion of my haram savings in charities. But, I still had some haram savings left (X) and together with my halal income (Y) I used all that money for my wedding and on other things. Now, after reading the part on haram wealth in al-kibaa'ir of Imam al-Dhahabi, I want to get rid of items I bought from haram money. How should I determine what was bought from halal money (Y) and what was bought from haram money (X) considering halal was being added to my haram savings and I was spending the money from my bank account? The ratio of haram to halal was 3:1. I gave my wife dowry/gifts from the savings that I had, (X+Y) amount. What is the status of the dowry/gifts? Does she have to give it away. I do not benefit from her dowry because it's almost all in jewelry. Out of this amount I had also bought a used car, which I still drive, and it amounted to almost exactly to halal amount (Y) that I had earned/saved by then. Should I assume that I consumed haram wealth first and hence the car is from halal money or should I assume that halal was consumed first? The money that I might have to get rid of, can I give a big portion of that to my younger brother who doesn't have any income and need the money for his studies in order to avoid interest-based loans? He will be able to avoid interest, insha Allah, if I'm able to give him the money. Do I need to get rid of all the items in my house that might have been bought prior to me leaving the haram job, like sofa and other furniture, etc.? What about the money that I had earned wrongly but consumed/spent it (like on food or clothes that I don't own anymore, charity, gifts, etc) Please note that this is some years ago so I don't exactly remember but I had some inclination that the job might not be halal for almost the whole time I worked there. I finally asked about it and found it to be haram.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
First of all, we ask Allaah to reward you for doing good and for being keen on gaining lawful earnings, and we ask Him to accept your repentance and forgive your sins, as He is the All-Hearer and He responds to supplications.
We will summarize the answer to your questions in the following points:
1. If when you obtained the ill-gotten money, you were ignorant that it was forbidden, then you are only required to repent from that and you are not obliged to get rid of this money which you have at hand now. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 123246.
2. If when you obtained the ill-gotten money, you knew that it was forbidden, then for your repentance to be complete, you should get rid of the amount of ill-gotten money if you are not in necessity to spend from it on yourself or on your family and children; for more benefit on where and how you should spend the ill-gotten money, please refer to Fatwa 87149.
3. You are permitted to give your brother who is needy and poor from this money to the extent of fulfilling his need, because since he is poor and needy, he falls under the category of people who are eligible for it; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 131588.
4. If you do not know exactly the amount of the ill-gotten money, then you should get rid of an amount that you predominantly think you are acquitted from sin by getting rid of it. It should be noted that the unlawfulness of the money is not related to the items you bought, such as your car, your real estate, your furniture, or all what you possess at hand which you purchased from this money; rather, you are the one who is sinful - if you knew at that time that your job was forbidden – and it is enough in getting rid of the ill-gotten money to spend only the amount that was unlawfully earned, and you are not obliged to sell those items or to get rid of them. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 86665 and 93773.
5. It is permissible for your wife to benefit from what you had given her, because if it was purchased from lawful money, then it is clear that it is permissible, and if it was from ill-gotten money, then the sin is related to you as the one who earned them as we have already mentioned.
Allaah Knows best.
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