Ruling on renting a shop to open an internet café

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

A rental contract is a kind
of contract that is permissible in Islamic sharee’ah, according to scholarly
consensus. The scholars have stated that in order for a contract to be
valid, there are several conditions, such as that the usage be permissible,
so it is not permissible to rent a house to one who will make it into a
church or a store for selling alcohol. If it is rented for such purposes
then the contract is not valid, because the usage is not permissible.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn
Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Sales of things which be used
for haraam purposes are not valid, such as selling grapes to one who will
use them to make wine, if that is known, as is the view of Ahmad and others,
or suspected, as in one of the two views narrated from him. This is
supported by the fact that our companions said: If the landlord thinks that
the renter is renting the house for sinful purposes such as selling wine and
the like, then it is not permissible for him to rent that house to him, and
the rental contract is not valid. Sales and rentals are the same. End quote
from al-Fataawa al-Kubra (5/388).

It says in Mataalib Ooli
al-Nuha (3/607): It is not valid to rent out a house to be used as a
church or synagogue or hermitage, or as a “fire temple” for Magian
(Zoroastrian) worship, or for selling alcohol or gambling, because that is
helping in sin, and Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “do not
help one another in sin and transgression” [al-Maa’idah 5:2]; or to rent
it out for music and singing, or anything that the Lawgiver has forbidden.
This is the correct view. If the haraam usage is mentioned in the rental
contract or is known from circumstantial evidence, the contract is invalid.
So it is not permissible to rent it out to him, and the landlord of the
house may prevent the dhimmi renter from selling wine in rented premises
because it is a sin. End quote.

Secondly:

Internet cafés may be used
for good or evil, but they are more often used for evil. If the person who
rents the shop is keen to control it, and to forbid evil actions such as
watching haraam things, visiting bad sites, smoking cigarettes and
narghiles, and gambling, then it is permissible to rent the shop to him, and
the income earned from that rental will be halaal.

But if the landlord knows
or thinks it most likely, from what he sees of the majority of people in his
city, or from the one who wants to rent the shop, that he will not control
the place or prevent evil actions from taking place there, or that he will
not be able to control it, or controlling it will be too difficult, because
of advanced technology and different programs that enable people to go to
forbidden sites, then it is not permissible for him to rent it to him,
because that is helping in sin and transgression, and Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):

“Help you one another in
Al‑Birr and At‑Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help one
another in sin and transgression. And fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is Severe
in punishment”

[al-Maa’idah 5:2]

See also the answer to
question no. 82873 and
34672

And Allaah knows best.