Paying a Bribe in Order to Get What is Rightfully Yours

Question :

I work for a man who often resorts to bribery in his business. I handle his accounts and oversee his work, for which I get a salary. Am I sinning for working with him?

Answer:

First, you have to know that bribery is unlawful when someone does it to achieve what is not rightly his or what is unlawful. An example of this is when somebody bribes a judge to wrongfully rule in his favor, or to bribe an employee in a government institution to get what the government forbids. This form of bribery is unlawful.

A bribe that someone pays, however, to get what rightfully belongs to him is unlawful for the one who receives the bribe, not unlawful for the one who pays it. This is because the person paying the bribe is only doing so to get his right, while the one receiving it is getting money that does not rightfully belong to him.

I take this opportunity to warn against this reprehensible act, an act that the Shari'ah forbids, and an act that sound intellect abhors. Some people and we ask Allâh Almighty to guide them cannot give other people their due except by pocketing some money; this base act is unlawful and is a form of treachery. I exhort these people to fear Allâh Almighty and to honestly perform the trust that has been given to them.

As for the case that you mentioned, wherein you are working for someone who takes bribes, working for him is unlawful, because working for somebody who does unlawful is equivalent to helping him in his unlawful; working for him makes you his partner in sin.

But first consider: is he dealing in bribery only to get something that is rightfully his? If so, there is no sin upon you, and you may continue to work for him.

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