Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

 

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalamualaikum wrwb,

I am an overseas student from Melbourne Australia. I am working as a customer service asistant-cum-kitchenhand in a restaurant which basically is a fast casual restaurant whose main business is on what is called as burritos. They don`t use halal meat in their food products. Apart from this, they also have alcohol as their drinks with the meals they give out to the customers. However, they do have soft drinks but b`coz the restaurant is located on a beach side, they also have different brands of Alcohol given out as drinks with the meals. But, we, the employees of the restaurant do not have to go down to the customers and serve them with meals and alcohol but the customers grab their meals from the cash registers. And also, the Alcohol bottles are ice-cold and so, are arranged just by the side of the cash register in a way such that the customers can help themselves grab their choice of Alcohol. What I mean to say is, there is no such issue of serving the customers with Alcohol. Though the restaurant`s main source of income is not Alcohol they sell it as a complement for the meals. I have been known for a long time that there is a hadeeth which forbids the believers from serving alcohol. Can u please quote that particular hadeeth and also can u please let me know if my earnings from such a restaurant is halal?

Jazak Allah Khair. 

 

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Answer:

 

Restaurant serve Alcohol

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person,  no grave, no prophet,  no imam,  no dai,  nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

 

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verses 90-91:

90      O ye who believe! Intoxicants (wine, alcohol, etc.), and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination of the Shaytaan's handiwork: eschew (stay far away from) such (abomination) that ye may prosper.

91      The Shaytaan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the Remembrance of Allah and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?

 

Sahih Muslim Hadith 3836     Narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas

AbdurRahman ibn Wa'alah as-Saba'i asked Abdullah ibn Abbas about that which is extracted from the grapes (wine), whereupon he said: ‘A person presented to Allah's Messenger (saws) a small water-skin of wine.  Allah's Messenger (saws) said to him: “Do you know that Allah has forbidden it (wine)?” He said: “No”, and then whispered to another man.  Allah's Messenger (saws) asked him what he had whispered. He said: “I advised him to sell that”, whereupon he (the Prophet (saws) said: “Verily He Who has forbidden its drinking has forbidden its sale also.” He (the narrator) said: He opened the waterskin until what was contained in it was spilt.’

 

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2776        Narrated by Anas ibn Malik

Allah's Messenger (saws) invoked the Curse of Allah on ten (types of) people in connection with wine: the wine-presser, the one who has it pressed, the one who drinks it, the one who conveys it, the one to whom it is conveyed, the one who serves it, the one who sells it, the one who benefits from the price paid for it, the one who buys it, and the one for whom it is bought.

 

Dear and Beloved Brother, all types of intoxicants are so detestable and despicable in the Sight of Allah Subhanah that not only has Allah and His Messenger (saws) declared all types of intoxicants (wine, alcohol, etc.) absolutely unlawful and haraam for the believers to consume, Allah Subhanah has specifically Commanded the believers in His Glorious Quran to ‘stay far far away from it’.

 

It is not lawful for a believer who sincerely believes in Allah and the Last Day to consume, or serve, or sell, or derive any benefit whatsoever from anything that intoxicates. 

 

From what you have related as the nature of your job that you work in a place or environment where some alcohol is sold, served and consumed…. but because you don’t actually own the business nor serve the alcohol yourself, one cannot say with absolute conviction that your earnings from this place are ‘haraam’ or unlawful; nor can one say with conviction that your earnings are absolutely ‘halaal’ and lawful.

 

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 1.49 Narrated by An Numan bin Bashir

I heard Allah's Messenger (saws) saying, 'Both legal (halaal) and illegal (haraam) things are evident but in between them there are doubtful (suspicious) things and most of the people have no knowledge about them. So whoever saves himself from these suspicious things saves his religion and his honor. And whoever indulges in these suspicious things is like a shepherd who grazes (his animals) near the ‘Hima’ (private pasture) of someone else and at any moment he is liable to get in it. (O people!) Beware! Every king has a Hima and the Hima of Allah on the earth is His illegal (forbidden) things.’

 

Beloved brother, without an iota of a doubt, a person who works in a place which sells alcohol would be guilty of associating with something that has been clearly described and declared as ‘haraam’ by Allah and His Messenger (saws). 

 

It would be best and closer to piety and righteousness to immediately seek to employ your talents elsewhere where the boundaries of Allah are not violated; and if you make this intention and move only for the sake and fear of Allah Subhanah, it is expected that not only will your Lord Most Gracious provide you from His Endless Bounties in the life of this world, but He will appreciate your noble intention and deeds, and bestow upon you a generous reward in the eternal life of the Hereafter, Insha Allah. 

 

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

 

Your brother and well wisher in Islam, Burhan