Prohibition of Haram Earnings (Sustenance) in Islam

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, The Merciful

Allah does not accept the prayer of He who eats Haram

When you pray to Allah, ask Him to grant you patience to work for Halal earnings and make you contented with it no matter how little.

Eating from Halal is the number one basis for our prayers to be accepted. Allah will not accept the prayers of a soul nourished from Haram. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) told us, "Allah is Pure, and accepts only the pure." [Muslim and Tirmidhi

So acceptance of our du'a (and our deeds generally) can be determined by our Halal or Haram consumption. The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said to the Companion Sa’d:

"O Sa’d! Purify your food, your supplication will be accepted. By the one in whose hand lays the life of Muhammad, verily a servant places a morsel of Haram in his stomach (and as a result) forty days of worship will not be accepted from him.” [Tabrani]


In a narration, the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him eternal peace) described the consumption of Haram food as the main cause for the non-acceptance of supplications (dua).

He (pbuh) mentioned a man having journeyed far, is dishevelled and dusty and who spreads out his hands to the sky (saying): O Lord! O Lord! - While his food is Haram, his drink is Haram, his clothing is Haram, and his nourishment is Haram, so how can his dua be answered! [Sahih Muslim]

In another Hadith narrated by Ibn Mas’ood (RA), He reported that the Prophet (pbuh) said, “A slave (of Allah) who acquires Haram wealth and gives charity from it, it is not accepted from him. If he spends from it, he does not have any blessing (barakah) in it. If he leaves it behind him (i.e. he dies) it will be a means of taking him to the fire (of Hell). Verily, Allah does not wipe out evil deed with evil deed; instead, He wipes out evil deed with good deed. Indeed, the repulsive does not wipe out the repulsive.” [Musnad Ahmad]

Therefore, looting money from public office to build mosques is a total waste of time and self deceit, Allah is pure, will not accept it. Good deeds don't have evil foundation, wallahi it is better for the community to pray in the open, under the sun or in the rain than to accept a mosque built with Haram money. Same things applies to gambling, usury, fortune telling, bribery and all other Haram sources of income.

Eating Haram will lead to Hell Fire
Jaabir (RA) narrates that Prophet (pbuh) said, “No meat (i.e. no body, soul) that was nourished with Haram will enter paradise. Every meat (i.e. person) that was nourished with Haram is more deserving of the Fire.” [Musnad Ahmad, Baihaqi]

In another Hadith the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “A body nourished on Haram sustenance (rizq) will not enter paradise.” [Sunan Tirmidhi] 

According to Hadith of our beloved Prophet (pbuh) and the rulings on our scholars, money earned the following is Haram..

• Selling of statues (idols)
• Earning through dishonesty (lying to get money, wealth) 
• Earning through promotion of shirk like earning of mujawars
• Bribery
• Interest, usury
• Selling of alcohol and narcotics
• Earning through telling lies like telling wrong purchase price
• Earning through fraud like concealing fault of the product
• Earning of fortune tellers
• Prostitution and those promoting and distributing it  (eg. Porn production, selling it and distributing it)
• Earning through palmistry and astrology
• Earning through selling, renting of musical instruments
• Earning through issuing wrong fatwas and misguiding people
• Earning through promotion of pornography
• Corruption
• Gambling
• Earning through selling dogs, selling pork and its products
• Earning of beauty parlours crossing limit of shariah (fixing hair attachments, wigs, brazilian hairs, tattoing, creating artificial tooth-gap etc)
• Black marketing
• Smuggling
• By manipulating market by threatening or pressurizing others
• Earning through prize bonds and lottery
• Bribery
• Artificial business
• Earning through cooperation in sins
• Gift for zakat and sadaqat collector

and so many more.

In a Hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah (RA): The Prophet (pbuh) said,  "Certainly a time will come when people will not bother to know from where they earned the money, by lawful means or unlawful means." [Bukhari]. May Allah make us among those who are concerned only about our Halal incomes.


May Allah protect us from Haram and everything leading to it. And may He grant us the patience to work for #Halal no matter how hard, Ameen!


@MuhdLawal, this lecture is inspired by Shaykh Saleh Bin Awad al-Maghamsi