Working as a HR

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

Sister in Islam, 

I apologise for the belated response. 

Your concern to earn a Halal income is a sign of your Imaan and Allah consciousness. May Allah Ta’ala grant you Barakah in all your Halal endeavours. Ameen!

Allah states in the Qur’an:

ولا تعاونوا على الإثم والعدوان (سورة المائدة:2)

Translation: And do not help each other in sin and aggression. (Al-Maidah: 2)

It is understood from this ayah that it is prohibited for a Muslim to assist in sin. While the ruling is definite and understood, the question of its application is quite complex. Inevitably, the bounds of such a ruling must be defined. Otherwise, it may lead to include distant measures under the umbrella of assisting in sin. For example, if a store owner sells vegetables and the consumer eats these vegetables, after that, from the energy gained from these vegetables, he commits zina, then would we assume that the store owner has assisted in sin? Consequently, the ulema have diligently defined what constitutes as “assisting in sin” and what does not. 

In principle, those acts that aid an individual in sinning, such that the sin would not have come into existence without the act, would be assisting in sin. For instance, if a person works at the bank and offers credit cards, then if a client signs up, this would fall under the assistance of sin. This is because the sign-up to the credit card is directly related to the offering. While the individual may have signed up to the credit card with or without the offering, it does not negate the fact that the specific occurrence is related to the subsequent offering. 

Accordingly, any employment which requires you to actively offer insurance plans, RESP plans, or any other Shariah-prohibited plan would not be permissible. However, if you are not actively offering these products, rather, you are simply providing information to employees about their plan, or are inputting records, then the employment would be permissble. You may use the above to be able to gauge your employment offers. If you require a specific ruling regarding a specific employment offer, you may send the complete job description. InshaAllah, we will advise accordingly.

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Mufti Mirza-Zain Baig

Canadian Centre for Islamic Research and Iftaa (cciri.ca)

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