Ruling on producing TV reports, and ruling on the wealth earned thereby

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

We praise Allaah for having
blessed you with guidance and we ask Him to help you to be guided more, and
to make your heart steadfast in faith and to cleanse you of sin.

You should realize that no
matter how vast this world may seem to a person, his fate is a constricted
abode which is the grave. No matter how great its delights, the fate of his
body is to be food for the worms. Remember that the real life is the life of
the Hereafter, and that the place where the Muslim wants to live is
Paradise, where there is no worry or grief or sickness or boredom, and he
will enjoy the blessings and bounties of Allaah.

With regard to your current
work, you do not doubt that it involves many haraam things, and that is
indeed the case. Every report that you help to prepare contains something
haraam, such as music, adorned women or promotion of something haraam that
goes against sharee’ah, so you have a share of sin commensurate with your
participation in preparing it. This is a kind of cooperating in sin and
transgression which Allaah has forbidden: “but do
not help one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allaah. Verily,
Allaah is Severe in punishment”

[al-Maa’idah 5:2].

Allaah has commanded us to
strive on earth and seek provision, but He has forbidden us to earn by
haraam means. All work which plays a part in creating evil and spreading it
among people is haraam work, and it is obvious to you that the people
getting used to evils such as adornment of women, mixing and music and so on
is largely caused by the media.

Thirdly:

What we advise you to do is
to look for a permissible job in the same field, and do not hasten to leave
if you find another field which is Islamically acceptable, even if that
leads to your working in a field that is not your speciality. But if you
find an opportunity in your field and the work is permissible, then move to
that job. If that is not possible and there are few opportunities to find
permissible work in your department or in another department, then you have
no choice but to leave this job, seeking reward with Allaah for leaving it,
and hoping that by obeying your Lord and keeping away from everything that
may anger Him, Allaah will honour you in this world and the next. Remember
that if you fear Allaah with regard to yourself and your job and wealth,
then you have a promise from Him of good in this world and in the Hereafter,
as He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And whosoever fears
Allaah and keeps his duty to Him, He will make a way for him to get out
(from every difficulty).

3. And He will provide
him from (sources) he never could imagine. And whosoever puts his trust in
Allaah, then He will suffice him. Verily, Allaah will accomplish his
purpose. Indeed Allaah has set a measure for all things”

[al-Talaaq 65:2-3]

Fourthly:

As for the wealth that you
previously acquired, it is subject to further discussion.

1.

If you did not know that
your work was haraam, then the money that you earned and accumulated is
permissible, and you may dispose of it as prescribed by Allaah. We have
quoted the fatwa of Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on
him) concerning a similar case in the answer to question no.
12397.

2.

If you did know that your
work was haraam, then if you can work out what proportion of your work was
haraam and take out the proportionate amount from your wealth and donate it
to various charitable causes, and make use of the rest, then that is
permissible for you. That applies if not all of your work is haraam, and
working out the rate is up to you.

3.

There is nothing wrong with
you giving your mother some of the money that you intend to spend on Hajj –
if your situation matches the second scenario above – and there is nothing
wrong with her accepting it, because money that is haraam because of how it
is acquired is only haraam for the one who acquires it, not the one to whom
it is transferred.

And Allaah knows best.