Question (Q-59)
Is it permissible for a shop owner to take rent from a tenant who starts to sell alcohol in his shop? What if the tenant makes it a condition that he is renting for the purpose of selling alcohol?
Answer:
The rent money is Halāl if the owner has not specifically given his shop on rent for the purpose of alcohol being sold there. It is stated in Al Hidāyah,
من آجر بيتاً ليتخذه فيه بيت نار أو کنيسة أو يباع فيه الخمر بالسواد فلا بأس به لأن الاجارة ترد عليٰ منفعة البيت ولا معصية فيه، إنما المعصية لفعل المستأجر
“Whoever rented out a house, so the tenant turns it into a house of fire, a church or a synagogue or to sell alcohol then this is permissible because the rent is taken for the benefit attained from the house and there is no sin in that. The sin is only linked to the action of the tenant.”
The sin of selling alcohol is on the tenant not the owner.
Allah (تعالى) says,
و لا تزر وازرة وزر اخريٰ
“And no burdened soul will carry another soul’s burden.” (Sūrah Fātir, 35:18)
If the tenant rents the shop on the condition that he will sell alcohol in it, then it is impermissible and sinful to rent out the property to him. This is because in such a situation, the property is being rented out for an impermissible and forbidden act. However, the rent money is not Harām (forbidden) but rather, it remains Halāl (permissible).
It is stated in Radd ul Muhtār and Al Ashbāh wan Nadhāir,
لأن الاجر طيب و إن کان السبب حراماً
“Because the rent is legitimate even though the cause for it is Harām (forbidden).”
It is stated in Al Fatāwā Ar Ridhwiyyah, Volume 8, Page 176,
“However, the rent money is Halāl (permissible) because it is in exchange for the use of the building and not in exchange for the actions that are carried out within it.”
Allah (تعالى) is Most Knowing.
Written by: Muftī Āl Mustafā Misbāhī (Allah preserve him)
Verified by: Muftī Shamsulhudā Khān Misbāhī (Allah preserve him)
