My uncle has some haraam income, can I accept his gift?

Question

 

My uncle runs a restaurant in….. In his restaurant, beef and mutton is not halal i.e.  zabeeha, and Alcohol is also served there. So, his income is not halal.

He came to ….. and has given me some money as a gift. I said to him that I cannot take it because I cannot use it so I cannot keep it. He said that I am hurting him. I said that I know but I cannot keep this money. Then he said that okay you give this money to someone else like in charity. I said: I cannot do that also, you take your money back and do whatever you want. He refused.

Now, I want to ask, what should I do with this money? I also want to ask, can we accept gifts from non-Muslims either from family or out of family, knowing that their income is not Islamically halal?

I would be grateful for your guidance.

Answer

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

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

In principle, if a Muslim person’s major source of income is from halal, it is permissible to accept gifts from him in spite of part of his income being haram.

The gifted portion will be regarded from his halal and pure income. In the enquired situation, if the restaurant offers other services besides the haram meat and alcohol as in the case of general restaurants then the income from the beef, mutton and alcohol is part of the income and not the entire income.

If according to your honest discretion the restaurant yields some income through other services then it was permissible for you to have accepted the gift for yourself.

In any case, you were dealing with your paternal uncle. He is equivalent to your father and expressed his love and compassion for you by offering a gift. You should have considered his good conduct and responded in a diplomatic way. Your response to your uncle was uneven and incorrect. While we have to be sensitive to halal and haram, Shari’ah emphasises on good conduct, diplomacy and wisdom which enables one to deal with conflicting issues evenly.

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best 

Maaz Chati

Student Darul Iftaa
Blackburn, England, UK 

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai

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