What is the ruling on selling research taken from the internet to students who need it to submit to their teachers, but who do not know how to use the internet properly or do not have access to it?.
Praise be to Allaah.
If the student will get a
certificate or increase his grades or pass an exam by means of that, then
this action is haraam, and it is cheating and deceiving, whether this
research is taken from the internet or elsewhere, because the purpose of
research is to train the student and test his abilities and so on. So what
he must do is do it himself. If he takes the efforts of someone else and
presents it under his name, he is cheating and lying.
These people who write
reports for others are sinning and doing wrong, whether they do that in
return for payment or not, because they are helping in cheating and lying,
and because they play a role in the giving of certificates and grades to
those who do not deserve them. This causes great damage to society and it is
deceiving the ummah, because it results in promotion of those who do not
deserve promotion and appointment of those who do not deserve to be
appointed.
The money that is taken for
selling these reports is haraam wealth, and it is not permissible to make
use of it. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: “Every body that is nourished on haraam things, the Fire is more
fitting for it.” Narrated by al-Tabaraani and Abu Na’eem; classed as saheeh
by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami, no. 4519.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may
Allaah have mercy on him) was asked: What do you say about what some people
do, hiring someone to write reports for them or prepare essays for them, or
write reports on some books so that they can get academic certificates?
He replied: It is most
unfortunate, as the questioner says, that there are some students who hire
people to write reports and essays for them by means of which they obtain
academic certificates, or who write reports on books, so they say to them:
Prepare biographies of these figures for me and refer to specific research
for me, then they submit the essay and get a degree by means of which they
are entitled to become teachers and the like. In fact this goes against the
aim of the university and against reality, and I think it is a kind of
betrayal, because the aim of that is only to get the certificate, and if he
were to be asked a few days later about the subject in which he got the
certificate, he would not be able to answer.
Hence I warn my brothers
who write book reports and who prepare essays in this manner of the severe
consequences. I do not say that there is anything wrong with seeking help
from another person, but not in such a way that the entire essay is the work
of someone else. May Allaah help us all to acquire beneficial knowledge and
do righteous deeds, for He is All-Hearing, Ever-Responsive.
End quote from Kitaab
al-‘Ilm.
And Allaah knows best.
