Questões
cotidianas ?

Email Marketing of a haram item / selling a haram job to a non Muslim

Pergunta: I really hope you guys are well versed in this because I was not able to make anyone (who can give me a decision whether its haram or halal) understand what email marketing is. It is a very easy work but very hard to explain. It is basically just promoting stuff via email. I work as a Cold Email marketing Manager and I live in Bangladesh. I got a work from a Canadian client who sells alcohol. My work for his alcohol company is to reach all major restaurants or wine sellers in Canada and email them with the question "Hi Mr. Y, my client JANE wants to sell his wine to you. are you interested in buing? " something like this is part of the email marketing work. Basically he wants to sell his products to his market. and I am in charge of his company's Email Marketing. Email Marketing is almost same for all brands. you just need to match their brand identity. This is why After I learned email marketing, I am working for over 7 years in this field and my knowledge on email marketing has grown exponentially. If I do the email marketing for him, Although I am not responsible for directly selling or handleling his product, I would be reaching out to people and ask them whether they want to buy alcohol or not from my client. I would also be making sure his email gets delivered into his prospects primary inbox folder. This got me thinking if I do this work MYSELF then it will most likely be Haram. (you let me know if its haram or not) Since I am not sure if I can work on this project, I was thinking if I could sell this project to a non-muslim. Trading with non-muslim is not prohibited right? This is a pretty big project and also offers pretty good money. I am explaining what I plan to do and you let me know, If I am allowed to do it --- (1) I worked for around 2 weeks in this project and I have not touched any money I earned so far from this project. I plan to give that total amount to charity. (2) I don\'t want to work on this project. However, I work on upwork. In order to get a job, you need to use your own money to apply consistantly and it is VERY competitive to win project. I did not know it was a alcohol brand before I got hired and the thought of "this job can be haram\" did not hit me until recently and I want to repent by giving 100% to charity. (3) But at the same time, getting a project is hard and takes a LOT of TIME. I want to sell this work / project to a non-muslim Email Marketing Expert in exchange for money. Since I used my expertise and knowledge to win this project, will I be able to sell that project itslef to a non-muslim. Because then, I would be talking money from that non-muslim in exchnage for a project and I WOULD NOT BE profitting off of selling alcohol in any way(direct or indirect). the non-muslim and the client can work together. let\'s say if I had worked on this project, I would have gotten $24,000 per year. but If I sell that project, I give it to someone else and that non-muslim pays me a one-time fee of $6000 for selling that project to him. I will not be needing the full $6000 all at once. so the non muslim can do whatever type of the work he wants to do and pay me back any time (his money might include the money he earned from doing the email marketing with the alcohol company) Can I sell the project this way and take money from a non-muslim in exchnage for a project? OR, If I cannot find a non-muslim who can do the work on his own, I will teach him how to do it in exchnage for $6000 and then give the work to him and will to charge him for giving him the project. this way, I will get the money for Teaching him and he can work on this project for however many months he wants to. and then he can pay me $6000 as a course fee / teaching fee(his money might include the money he earned from doing the email marketing with the alcohol company). If I do not work on this project myself, get rid of the project, and remove all connection with this project after either selling it or teaching that to a non-muslim - can I take money from that non-muslim by selling the "work" itself or selling my "knowledge"?

Resposta:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-Salamu A’laykum Wa-Rahmatullahi Wa-Barakātuh.

As a principle, it is not permissible to market and advertise products that are deemed impermissible in Shariah. Allah mentioned in the Qur’an:

ولا تعاونوا على الاثم و العدوان

Translation: Do not support one another in sin and transgression. Qur’an 5:2

You can teach how the e-marketing is done in general and receive a fee for it. But you cannot at any instance give this kind of work to a non-Muslim, because you will be the means of facilitating the wine marketing. Rasolollah Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam mentioned :

قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الْخَمْرَ وَشَارِبَهَا وَسَاقِيَهَا وَبَائِعَهَا وَمُبْتَاعَهَا وَعَاصِرَهَا وَمُعْتَصِرَهَا وَحَامِلَهَا وَالْمَحْمُولَةَ إِلَيْهِ ‏

Translation: The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Allah has cursed wine, its drinker, its server, its seller, its buyer, its presser, the one for whom it is pressed, the one who conveys it, and the one to whom it is conveyed. Sunan Abi Dawud

And Allah Ta’ala Knows Best

Mufti Mahomed Yasser Iunus Hussen

04 of Shawal 1444

25 of April 2023