Auditing banks
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:
Respected
Mr.Burhan, salaam alaikum
Thank you for your
invaluable help that you are doing by explaining what is right and what is
wrong with evidence from Quran. And most thanks to Allah for making me come
across this site.
I hav finished
college and i worried that my income should insha allah be 100% halaal.
I appears to me as
if whatever job i take i will hav to help sin in some way.
But now i am about
to get job as a computer operator in a chartered accountancy firm.
citibank is a
client of the firm, and the main work that I will be doing is for Citibank.
Every
bank/company/business has to legally pay tax, so they hav to get their accounts
audited.
So they hav to get
services of auditor, and client (citibank) will pay the auditor (my employer)
for it.
But i am an
employee of my firm and NOT citibank.But my work is to handle the records of
the customers of citibank and to check whether they are in accordance with the
accounts of the bank. you would be knowing that the work of audit is like
investigating, ensuring that the accounts do not contain any
errors/manipulations. So the citibank/any bank, compulsorily requires service
of an auditor for paying tax, and preparing annual report to head office. So i
mean auditing is unavoidable for any organization. So if the job i am doing is
processing/verifying the records of a bank (while i am still an employee of the
auditor and not Bank) then is that job halaal for me. Please reply me. Also IF
my employer (auditor) has other clients who are wine producing companies, movie
producing companies then is it halaal for me to verify the records of those
haraam companies.
In essence my
question is: Are the EMPLOYERS of an auditor free from the sin of the CLIENTS
of the auditor. Pls reply as elaborate as possible, quoting as many examples as
possible. I am sure many others muslims will also hav such doubts abt their
jobs. - Thank you very much for your service.
(There may be some
grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
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readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
Auditing banks
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.
Narrated Hadrat Ali that he heard Allah's Messenger (saws) cursed those who took usury, those who paid it, those who recorded it, and those who refused to give sadaqah.
Since the basic or prime
business of the auditing firm is not interest or haraam based, it would be deemed legal and halaal to work
in an audit firm.
The Prophet (saws)
prophesied: “A time is certainly coming to mankind, when only the receiver of
usury will remain, and if one does not receive it, some of its vapour will
reach him.” ( The Prophet
(saws) said that a time will come, when
even if one tries his utmost to stay away from ‘riba’, the whole society and surroundings will be
so much engrossed in ‘riba’, that some
of its vapour or dust will reach this pious person. Unfortunately, we live in those times today.)
But if you want to further
satisfy your heart, and intend to stay
absolutely away from any sort of ‘riba’ or its dealings, it would be purer and better if you sought
or looked for a job that does not deal with the haraam at all. Allah Subhanah will reward you generously
from His Unlimited Bounty in the life of this world, and honor you with the best in the Hereafter for striving to obey
His Commands and Guidance, and for fearing His punishment for even being associated
with the haraam.
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,