Is it permissible to work as a programmer for a retail company that sells home improvement supplies? This retail company is called Home Depot; it mostly sells permissible materials for home improvement, such as paint, drywall, lights, lumber and the like. But they also sell some haraam things such as figurines and pictures to hang on the wall that contain crosses. My work will be in the head office, and my job will be to design programs for the company; I will not deal directly with any of their products or items. I hope that you can advise me as to whether it is permissible for me to work in this company.

Praise
be to Allah

Firstly:

It is
permissible to work in programming that will be used for permissible
purposes, such as buying and selling, on the basis that buying and selling
are permissible in principle, so long as that does not involve helping in
something haraam, because Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of
the meaning):


“And
cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and
aggression. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty”


[al-Maa’idah
5:2].

The fuqaha’
stated that the means come under the same ruling as the ends, and that
whatever may lead to haraam is also haraam. Similarly, they stated that it
is prohibited to sell grapes to someone who will use them to make wine, or
to rent a building to someone who will use it for unlawful purposes, because
that comes under the heading of helping in what Allah, may He be exalted,
has prohibited.

So it is not
permissible to work as a programmer for a riba-based bank, or a business
that sells alcohol, and the like.

As for
businesses whose products are mostly permissible, it is permissible to
design programs for them, even if they sell some things that are haraam,
because the presence of some unlawful things in stores is something that has
become overwhelmingly widespread (and can no longer be avoided), such as
cigarettes and the like. That is so long as the programs do not specifically
mention these haraam things.

In the answer to
question no. 11517 there is a fatwa from Shaykh Ibn
‘Uthaymeen about concessions regarding such matters.

Secondly:

It is not
permissible to sell statues, crosses, images of animate beings or images
that include crosses, because it is not permissible to make any of those
things. Rather what is required is to remove the images and statues, and to
break the crosses, for when Allah prohibits a thing He also prohibits its
price. See the answers to questions no. 49676,
98632 and 115038.

And Allah knows
best.