Question # 605: As-salamu alaykum. Suppose someone earned haram money by, for example, selling drugs and stealing. He wants to stop doing this and sincerely make tawbah. However, he already knows beforehand that afterward he wants to take another job or start his own business where the income is also not halal according to Islam. The work is permitted and legal in the country where he lives, but according to Islamic rules, the income is not halal. Can his tawbah for selling drugs and stealing still be accepted? So, he is genuinely stopping selling drugs and stealing, but he already knows beforehand that he will consciously continue earning haram income through another means afterward.
Assalamu ‘laikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
All praise and thanks are due to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم).
Dear questioner,
First of all, we implore Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) to help us serve His cause and render our work for His sake.
Shorter Answer: If someone sincerely stops drug dealing and theft, regrets them, and firmly resolves never to return to those specific sins, his repentance from them may be accepted by Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) even if he plans another unlawful job, as long as that new sin is of a different type. Scholars explain that repentance from one sin is valid while persisting in another unrelated sin, though this is not the complete, sincere repentance (tawbah nasuh) that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) commends. If the new income is essentially the same kind of wrongdoing, such as still acquiring wealth through what Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) has forbidden, then he has not truly left the sin. He must also return stolen property to its owners or their heirs, or give its value in charity on their behalf if they cannot be found.
Long Answer: If a person repents from one sin whilst persisting in another sin, then the sin from which he has repented will be forgiven for him, according to the correct scholarly view, but the sin from which he has not repented will remain as it is and will not be included in that act of repentance, according to scholarly consensus.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah stated, in substance, in Al-Fatawa al-Kubra: “According to Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, a deed is accepted from the one who fears Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) regarding it, meaning the deed is performed sincerely for the sake of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) and in accordance with His command. Thus, whoever fears Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) regarding a specific deed, He accepts it from him, even if he is disobedient in other matters; and whoever does not fear Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) regarding a deed, He does not accept it from him, even if he is obedient in other matters. This applies to repentance for some sins while not others.”
Ibn al-Qayyim also stated in his book Madarij al-Salikin, while discussing this issue: “My view on this matter is that repentance is not valid for a sin if one persists in another sin of the same type. However, repentance for a sin is valid even if one continues to commit another sin that is unrelated and of a different type. For example, if a person repents for usury but does not repent for drinking alcohol, his repentance for usury is valid.”
Ibn al-Qayyim then gives the harder cases, “where two acts share the same underlying nature even though they look different on the surface: someone who repents from riba al-fadl (unequal exchange of a like commodity) while still practicing riba an-nasi’ah (an increase charged for delaying a debt), or the reverse; or someone who repents from consuming hashish while persisting in alcohol, or the reverse. In these cases, he rules the tawbah is not sound, comparing it to a man who claims to repent from zina with one woman while continuing zina with another, or from one intoxicating drink while continuing on a different one: in reality such a person has not left the sin at all, he has only shifted from one form of it to another of the same underlying kind.” In the questioner’s case, if the new job remains a form of unlawful acquisition of wealth, even if it is not theft or drug dealing, it may fall closer to Ibn al-Qayyim’s ‘same underlying nature’ category than to his ‘different type’ category.
Al-Qurtubi said: “The Ummah is agreed that repentance is obligatory for believers, based on Allah’s (سبحانه و تعالى) saying: “…And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers…” (Soorah an-Nur, 24:31) Repentance for a sin is valid even while persisting in another sin of a different type. This contradicts the view of the Mu‘tazilah, who claimed that one who persists in a sin cannot be considered repentant. There is no distinction made between one act of disobedience and another in this regard: this is the position of Ahl al-Sunnah.” (Al-Jami‘ li-Ahkam al-Qur’an).
Accordingly, if a person stops drug dealing and theft, regrets those acts, and truly resolves never to return to those specific sins, his tawbah from them may be accepted by Allah (سبحانه و تعالى). The fact that he anticipates earning through another prohibited avenue does not automatically invalidate his repentance from drug dealing and theft, provided the new wrongdoing is genuinely distinct from the sins he has abandoned.
However, deliberately planning to begin a different occupation known to be haraam remains a grave matter. It is not a lawful “replacement” for drug dealing or theft. He must repent from that planned sin as well and actively seek a halal means of provision.
The question does not specify exactly what the new job or business is, only that it is legal where he lives but not halal according to Islamic rulings. That detail matters a great deal, because it decides which side of Ibn al-Qayyim’s test the case falls on. If the new income is still, in its essential nature, the same kind of wrong as what he is leaving, for example if it still involves trading in something intrinsically forbidden to deal in, or still involves taking money without a rightful basis in the way theft does, then this looks much closer to Ibn al-Qayyim’s harder cases above (riba al-fadl shifting to riba an-nasi’ah, hashish shifting to alcohol) than to his easy case (riba shifting to alcohol). Selling drugs is one kind of unlawful trade; theft is a different kind of wrong, taking another’s property outright. If the new venture belongs to either of those same general categories rather than to a genuinely distinct one, then by Ibn al-Qayyim’s standard the underlying disposition, being willing to acquire wealth through what Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) has forbidden, has not actually been left; only its outward form has changed, and on this understanding the tawbah would not even meet the narrower bar of technical validity described above.
As for repenting from a sin while persisting in another, although it is a valid repentance regarding that specific sin, it is incomplete and deficient. It is not the tawbah nasuh (sincere, pure repentance) for which Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) has promised forgiveness and Paradise. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says in the Qur’an: “O believers! Turn to Allah in sincere repentance, so your Lord may absolve you of your sins and admit you into Gardens, under which rivers flow…” (At-Tahrim, 66:8). Ibn al-Qayyim discusses tawbah nasuh and explains that: “Sincerity in repentance entails three things:
- Encompassing all sins and covering them entirely, such that no sin is left unaddressed.
- Unanimous resolve and total sincerity regarding it, leaving no room for hesitation, wavering, or delay; rather, one focuses one’s entire will and determination upon it, hastening to act.
- Purifying it from impurities and underlying motives that compromise its sincerity. It must stem purely from the fear and awe of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), and from desiring what He possesses while fearing His retribution…” (As explained in the book “Qiyam al-Suluk Ma’allah” by Dr. Mufrih bin Sulaiman al-Qawsi)
That description of no waiting left in the resolve is worth sitting with, because it speaks directly to what makes the situation [mentioned in the question] different from an ordinary case of valid but incomplete tawbah. The scholars’ own examples of that (riba while still drinking, zina while still taking riba) describe someone who simply has not yet gotten around to leaving a second, unconnected sin. There is no suggestion in those examples that the person has already resolved, in advance, exactly how he will keep sinning once the first matter is settled. The case [in the question] is different in kind: he has not merely failed to address a second sin; he has already settled on it as his plan before he has even repented from the first two. That is not the picture of someone who has closed the door on unlawful earning and is separately working through an unrelated weakness; it is closer to someone holding the door open on purpose.
Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says in the Qur’an: “They are those who, upon committing an evil deed or wronging themselves, remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins—and who forgives sins except Allah? – and they do not knowingly persist in wrongdoing” (Soorah Ali ‘Imran, 3:135). A plan to keep earning unlawfully, even through a new and different door, sits uneasily with that description.
There is another reminder in the hadith of having lawful income. Abu Hurayrah (ra) reported Allah’s Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم) as saying: “O people, Allah is Good and He therefore accepts only that which is good. And Allah commanded the believers as He commanded the Messengers by saying: “O Messengers, eat of the good things, and do good deeds; verily I am aware of what you do”. And He said: “O those who believe, eat of the good things that We gave you”. He then made a mention of a person who travels widely, his hair disheveled and covered with dust. He lifts his hand towards the sky (and thus makes the supplication): “O Lord, O Lord,” whereas his diet is unlawful, his drink is unlawful, and his clothes are unlawful, and his nourishment is unlawful. How can then his supplication be accepted?” (Sahih Muslim). Deliberately keeping a channel of unlawful earning open, even by design and even through a different door than before, risks exactly the outcome this hadith describes. That alone is a strong, practical reason to aim higher than the minimum the same type of test might technically allow.
Furthermore, where a sin involves another person’s specific right, sincere tawbah requires a fourth element beyond leaving the sin, regretting it, and resolving never to return to it: restoring that right, or seeking forgiveness from the one who was wronged, or giving him his rights. (Also refer to Question # 601: Concealing a Past Theft: Does It Invalidate Nikah?) In short, whatever was taken by theft needs to go back to the person it was taken from, or to their heirs if they have since died, and if they genuinely cannot be located after real effort, its value is given in charity on their behalf rather than kept.
Drug money does not have a specific wronged owner in the same way stolen money does, so it follows a different path. Scholars addressing money earned from other kinds of unlawful dealing treat the underlying principle the same way Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim describe it: it should be given away in charity without seeking a reward for it, though someone in genuine need may keep only what he needs from it, and any surplus may even be used as capital to start something lawful (Madarij al-Salikin and Zad al-Ma’ad). That last detail carries a warning worth noticing for this exact case: if the questioner’s own remaining drug money ends up funding his next venture, the soundness of everything above depends entirely on that next venture actually being halal, not merely legal where he lives.
In summary, none of this should be read as closing the door. Sincerely leaving drug dealing and theft, with real regret and a firm resolve never to return to either, is a genuine and substantial step. But leaving one haraam avenue while already planning another is not the same as leaving haraam earning behind. The soundest path, and the only one that reaches tawbah nasuh rather than a repentance that is merely sound but incomplete, is to treat this as one decision rather than two: leaving unlawful earning as such, not just its current form, and searching in earnest for work that is genuinely halal before committing to whatever comes next.
The person in this situation should take the following steps:
- Stop drug dealing, theft, and every other unlawful source of income immediately.
- Feel genuine remorse for the wrongdoing and ask Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) for forgiveness sincerely.
- Make a firm decision never to return to drug dealing or theft.
- Return stolen funds or property to their owners without necessarily disclosing the theft if disclosure would create greater harm. If the owner cannot be found after serious effort, give the equivalent value in charity on the owner’s behalf.
- Avoid treating another unlawful occupation as an acceptable alternative. He should investigate the proposed job or business carefully and seek a trustworthy scholar’s advice if its ruling is unclear.
- Seek a halal job or business, even if its income is initially less than the anticipated unlawful income.
- Continue making tawbah whenever he falls into sin. A later sin does not prevent him from returning to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) again, but sincere repentance must be real at the time it is made.
(The above reply is based on the following resources:
- islamqa.info
- islamweb.net)
Allahu A’lam (Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) knows best) and all Perfections belong to Allah, and all mistakes belong to me alone. May Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) forgive me, Ameen.
Wassalaam
