I work in the field of repairing or maintaining mobile phones; I do not sell them or buy them or upload any ring tones or images in them.
Please note that I repair all mobile phones, whether they have a camera in them or not, and I sell electronic parts for mobile phones. My financial situation is very poor and I cannot change my job to open a restaurant or bookstore at this time. I am faced with doubts that the money that I get from this job may be haraam and is similar to repairing televisions, because nowadays in our country, mobile phones are used for communication, ring tones, pictures and video. Sometimes mobile phones are brought to me that do not work, and when I repair them I am surprised to find that this phone contains indecent movies or images. What should I do right now? Should I teach this profession and sell electronic parts only? Or should I continue my work?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Selling and repairing equipment that may be used for good or
for evil, for permissible or haraam things, is subject to further
discussion:
(a)
It is permissible to sell them
and repair them for those who it is known or thought most likely will use
them for permissible purposes.
(b)
It is not permissible to sell
them or repair them for those who it is known or thought most likely that
they will use them for haraam purposes.
(c)
If it is not known, then one
should act upon what one thinks is most likely to be the case. If what is
usual in your country is that they are used for permissible purposes, then
it is permissible, otherwise it is haraam.
What appears to us to be the case is that mobile phones are
used for permissible purposes in most cases, unlike televisions. Based on
that, there is nothing wrong with you repairing this equipment, selling
parts and training others to work in this field, whilst paying attention to
two matters:
(i)
You should deal with the phone
only, and not the chip or memory card. Thus you will be safe from looking at
what it contains.
(ii)
In the event that you see
something that is obviously wrong, whether it is an image or a movie, then
you have to remove it, so as to denounce the evil, and you should not pay
any attention to the owner’s objections. In this case, you have to advise
the owner of the phone and explain to him that this action of his is haraam.
For more information, please see the answer to question
number 34597 and
85441.
We ask Allaah to guide and help us and you.
And Allaah knows best.
