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:

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh

My beloved brother in Islam I need your help. Please help me because I am very much worried about this since the time I done this.

I am doing ATM machine business. It works like this way. I just places the ATM machine at the busy places like stores, restaurants etc and charge the peoples who use that ATM per transaction. Few weeks ago I placed one of my machine in a liquor store. Before I placed it there I discuss this issue with one of Islamic scholar (I am calling him scholar because I attend his speeches so many times and I think, that is just my own opinion, ALLAH KNOWS BETTER, he has very good understanding of Islam). He said that it’s ok as u are just helping the peoples to get their money from their accounts. How they will spend it is not your concern. If they spend on harm things it is their money and they will be asked about it. So in short I put my machine in that liquor store. But since than I am still worried that my earning is halal or not and I am very afraid to stay in front of ALLAH THE LOARD OF EVERY THING on day of judgment if that money is not halal. Please answer me in your first available time, as I know u have lot of questions to answer. May ALLAH, all mighty, help you and have his blessing on u and all others helping u.

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Answer:

Place atm in liquor store

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:

O you who have believed! ‘Khamr’ (all types of intoxicants), games of chance, idols, and divining arrows are all abominable works of Shaitaan; therefore, stay (far) away from these so that you may attain success. Indeed, Shaitaan seeks to sow enmity and hatred among you by means of ‘khamr’ (intoxicants) and gambling, and to prevent you from the Remembrance of Allah and from Salaah. Will you not, then, abstain from these things?

Allah Subhanah in the above aayah clearly declares that ‘khamr’ or all types of intoxicants are the abominable works of the Shaitaan, and commands the believers to stay ‘far away’ from them! The term used by Allah in the Quran to guide the believers to stay away is ‘fajj-tanebu’, commanding the believers that this ‘khamr’ is so hated and despised by Allah for the believers, that they not only should abstain from consuming it, they should stay ‘far away from it’! Some scholars have opined that the term ‘fajj-tanebu’ is stronger than the term ‘haraam’, and a believer who sincerely fears Allah and the Last Day, must not even put himself in a position that he sits with those who consume intoxicants, or visit places where intoxicant is served!

Allah and His Messenger (saws) have declared several things haraam (like the flesh of swine, dead animals, gold and silk for the male believers, etc.), but nowhere has it been mentioned that we cannot go near them! But for intoxicants, gambling, idols, and divining arrows… Allah has commanded the believers to stay far away from them!!

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2776 Narrated by Anas ibn Malik

Allah's Messenger (saws) invoked the curse of Allah on ten 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.

Beloved Brother in Islam, although one cannot say with conviction that the money you earn from the service you provide by placing your ATM machine in a liquor store is haraam for sure, it would be considered a sort of co-operation and facilitation with something which is absolutely and clearly forbidden in Islam. It is indeed true that you are not responsible for how the people who use your ATM machines spend their money; but there is a slight possibility that one may be drawn to visit the liquor store to use your service and be tempted to purchase the forbidden.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 2:

Help ye (O believers) one another in righteousness and piety but help ye not one another in sin and rancor. Fear Allah!; for Allah is strict in punishment.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 3.267 Narrated by An Numan bin Bashir

The Prophet (saws) said "Both legal (halaal) and illegal (haraam) things are obvious, and in between them are (suspicious) doubtful matters. So whoever forsakes those doubtful things lest he may commit a sin, will definitely avoid what is clearly illegal; and whoever indulges in these (suspicious) doubtful things bravely, is likely to commit what is clearly illegal. Sins are Allah's Hima (i.e. private pasture) and whoever pastures (his sheep) near it, is likely to get in it at any moment."

Your Question: But since than I am still worried that my earning is halal or not and I am very afraid to stay in front of ALLAH THE LOARD OF EVERY THING on day of judgment if that money is not halal.

May Allah Subhanah increase your state of piety and grant you the wisdom and the courage to abstain from anything which even has a doubt of being close to the forbidden. Ameen.

My beloved brother, although there is none who could declare with conviction that your earnings from providing this ATM service in a liquor store is haraam, there is a possibility that your co-operation and facilitation with a thing which is clearly forbidden might be called to account on that Tumultous and Inevitable Day of Judgment.

If Allah has blessed you with this supreme quality of ‘taqwa’ and God-consciousness, and if your heart is not entirely content, and if you abstain from providing your ATM service in a liquor store only because you fear Allah and His Accounting; Allah is our witness, it would be the absolute purest route and you will have your full reward from Allah Subhanah on a Day when every deed, regardless of how small or big it is, will be weighed on the Supreme Scales of Justice of the Lord Most Just.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 21 Surah Anbiyaa verse 47:

47 We shall set up the Scales of Justice for the Day of Judgement, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least. And if there be (no more than) the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it (to account): and enough are We to take account!

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