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Fatwa CenterIndirect unintentional help to commit sin is of no consequence
Question
Assalaamu alaykum dear Sir. Is it halal to sell tailoring materials when I am sure that many of those who buy them will use my products for the following:
1. To stitch shirts for men (which I think is halal),
2. To stitch normal garments and abayas for women (which I also think is halal),
3. To stitch churidars (a dress usually worn by non-Muslims that does not cover 100% of what is required to be covered of a woman)'s body (which I think is haram),
4. To decorate the above mentioned churidars or similar dresses (which I think is haram).
I am currently working abroad and wish to settle with family. Many business ideas came to my mind, but many of them are clearly haram or clearly halal; this one, however, I am not sure of. Kindly advise me.
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
It is permissible to sell these tailoring materials even to those who might use them in sewing or embroidering clothes that do not modestly cover a woman's body as long as the intention of the seller was not to help them do that. If it happened that they thus helped to commit a sin, it would be indirect and unintentional. The scholars held that this kind of help, namely the indirect and unintentional kind, has no legal consequences.
Dr. Waleed Al-Meneesi, a member of the Islamic Fiqh Academy in America, said:
"The criterion for the help offered to others to commit sins and aggression was extensively investigated and discussed by the members of The Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA) in its fifth round held in Bahrain in 1428 AH (2007 AD). The results of the discussion suggested that helping others in committing sins and aggression can be divided into four categories:
1- Direct, intentional help, such as is the case when someone offers another a glass of wine with the intention of helping him to drink alcohol.
2- Direct but unintentional help, such as is the case when selling prohibited items that have no lawful use if the seller's intention is not to help the buyers to use them in committing prohibited acts.
3- Indirect intentional help, such as is the case when someone gives another a dirham to buy wine. Another example is causing death indirectly.
4- Indirect and unintentional help, such as is the case when one sells items that have both lawful and unlawful uses and does not intend to help the buyers to commit prohibited acts with them. Another example is when someone gives another a dirham to buy something other than wine but he bought wine and drank it; the person who gave him the dirham does not bear a sin for giving him the dirham if he did not intend to help him commit a prohibited act. This fourth category includes selling and buying and engagement in lease contracts with the disbelievers and dissolute Muslims and offering them charity."
Thus, the AMJA's resolution emphasized the prohibition of the first three categories and deemed the fourth permissible, namely the indirect and unintentional help."
Allaah knows best.
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