Establishing a call center

15-12-2004 | IslamWeb

Question:

What is the ruling of establishing a call centre whereby the business owner gets the money according to the calls made by customers? This business is going to be set up in a non-Muslim country therefore there is a big probability that males would talk on the phone in a forbidden way to females who are not Mahaarim. Please reply to my question, may Allaah reward you and send the answer in English as my computer is not Arabic enabled.

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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. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

It is permissible to deal with non-Muslims in buying and selling, renting and borrowing and other permissible transactions with a probability that the latter would use them in forbidden fields. The Muslims during the reign of the Prophet and at the time of the companions and righteous predecessors until today, were and are still dealing with non-Muslims. In Madeenah, the Prophet used to buy and borrow things from the Jews. He borrowed a shield from Safwaan Ibn Umayyah who at that time had not yet embraced Islam and it is known that the non-Muslims do not care in using what they get from the Muslims in forbidden fields. What is important in the issue is that if a Muslim is sure that the person who buys or rents from him a given matter will use it in forbidden avenues then it is not permissible in this case to buy and sell or rent to him, whether the buyer is a Muslim or non-Muslim. Therefore, you should know that it is permissible for a Muslim to open a call centre in a non-Muslim country even with the probability that some people will use the utilities in what is Islamicly forbidden.   

Allaah knows best.