What constitutes aiding in sin when working for a software house, as a service provider, as a software engineer, software developer, web designer or web developer ?

Fatawa Question

What constitutes aiding in sin when working for a software house, as a service provider, as a software engineer, software developer, web designer or web developer ? What should one look out for to understand when one is aiding in sin when working for a software house, as a service provider, as a software engineer, software developer, web designer or web developer ? It’s a role different from an IT technician in that they are not just providing maintenance to the IT infrastructure of the company. The core of the matter is that the company that one is working for is a Halal business in that they offer to develop software. e.g. : -websites or desktop applications -sell online access to software they build -customize the software and then sell online access to it. However the client the company has, or could have at some point in the future, could be a Halal or Haram business. Hence the software the company builds or sells access to the client may be considered to be : For advertising the client’s services such as building a company website which advertises the client’s services which are Haram. Content text / graphics may be provided by the client or done internally. Or a financial package where it has components to calculate non-shariah compliant figures. Or an energy monitoring system which offers the client haram or a mixture of Haram / Halal e.g. Food factories, save money by monitoring their energy usage. Or an e-commerce system which allows the client to sell their goods which are Haram. The company may host the system themselves for cost or client hosts it. Or customise either types of software as a service to add extra functionality to meet client needs or to aid in the client sales by customising it to generate leads by providing a professional looking website. Should one when looking to work in these companies make clear to the employer in interviews that if Haram business came to the company one would refuse to work on such projects or only do so if they occur during employment.

Fatwa

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Publisher

al-Qalam Shariah Scholar Panel

Publication Date

2012-02-23

Country of Publication

United Kingdom

Main Subjects

Information Technology and Computer Science
Islamic Studies

Topics

• Islamic jurisprudence
• Computer software
• Web sites

No. of Pages

2

Data Type

Fatawa

Language

English

Record ID

BIM-726466

• APA
• MLA
• AMA