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Fatwa CenterFalsifying part of PhD thesis
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. I was in need of a research paper (first authored paper) for my thesis for my PhD. I worked primarily on this research paper and did so very hard. It was agreed by all authors before starting the research for that paper that whomsoever would contributes the most would be the first author. I was given the main responsibility and generated the most data. After finishing the work, in my absence, and without letting me know, my professor became the first author of the research paper that resulted from this work (without doing any research work himself). I confronted him but he said that he needs it in order to benefit from grants. I had not choice but to come up with another paper for my PhD. Hence, I started working on an alternative project. This project was not going well, though, so I falsified a part of another research paper to get my PhD as I was running out of time in order to submit my thesis. I feel very ashamed of my deeds and seek sincere forgiveness from Allaah. In this scenario, is it permissible for me to use my PhD for future job applications? Please note that obtaining the PhD partly depended on the thesis and partly on my general knowledge of science (which is not related to my thesis). My examiners were very happy with my answers to the scientific questions (not related to my thesis) and, praise be to Allaah, gave me very good scores.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
We cannot authoritatively assert whether or not what you did is cheating; in any case, if it is said that it is cheating, then if you repent and regret what you did, we hope that there is no harm on you in benefiting from your PhD and apply for jobs with it.
Shaykh Ibn Baaz 
was asked, “A man works with a scientific certificate but he cheated in exams for this certificate, and now he is doing his job very well, as per the testimony of his directors. What is the ruling on his salary? Is it lawful or unlawful?”
He replied, “There is no harm, Allah willing, but he must repent from cheating. If he is doing his job as due, then there is nothing wrong with his earnings; but he is wrong because of the previous cheating and has to repent to Allah from it.”
Allah knows best.
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