Praise be to Allah.
You have done well not to sell things that Allaah has forbidden such as beer and pork. We ask Allaah to bless you with a halaal provision and to compensate you with good.
With regard to the things you asked about, the details are as follows:
1 – It is not permissible for a Muslim to take part in the festivals of the kuffaar, such as Christmas and Easter, or to sell the things that will help them in that, because 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”
[al-Maa'idah 5:2]
The same applies to innovated festivals such as Mother’s Day. It is not permissible to sell anything that may help them to celebrate it.
2 – The basic ruling is that it is permissible to use and sell condoms, unless the vendor knows or thinks it most likely that they will be used for haraam purposes, in which case it is not permissible to sell them.
The basic principle concerning that – as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said – is: “Every garment which one thinks will most likely be used for sinful purposes, it is not permissible to sell it or sew it for one who will use it for sinful and wrongful purposes.” (Sharh al-‘Umdah, 4/386)
This does not apply only to clothes, rather it is general and applies to everything that may be bought or sold.
3 – It is haraam to sell tobacco and lottery tickets, and every product which is known to involve something that is haraam.
It says in a fatwa issued by the Standing Committee (13/55): “It is not permissible to deal in tobacco or any haraam things, because they are khabaa’ith (evil and filthy things), and because of the physical, spiritual and financial harm they cause.”
With regard to the lottery, it is the essence of gambling. Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “This method which the questioner mentions, whereby a person buys a ticket and if he is lucky, as he says, he will win a large amount, in included under the heading of gambling of which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“O you who believe! Intoxicants (all kinds of alcoholic drinks), and gambling, and Al‑Ansaab (stone altars for offering sacrifices to idols, the jinn, etc), and Al‑Azlaam (arrows for seeking luck or decision) are an abomination of Shaytaan’s (Satan’s) handiwork. So avoid (strictly all) that (abomination) in order that you may be successful.
Shaytaan (Satan) wants only to excite enmity and hatred between you with intoxicants (alcoholic drinks) and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allaah and from As‑Salaah (the prayer). So, will you not then abstain?
And obey Allaah and the Messenger (Muhammad), and beware (of even coming near to drinking or gambling or Al‑Ansaab, or Al‑Azlaam) and fear Allaah. Then if you turn away, you should know that it is Our Messenger’s duty to convey (the Message) in the clearest way”
[al-Maa'idah 5:90-92]
This gambling – which includes every transaction in which the person will end up either losing and winning, but he does not know whether he will be a winner or a loser – is all haraam; indeed it is one of the major sins. It is obvious that it is something abhorrent when we realize that Allaah has mentioned it in conjunction with idol-worship, alcohol and al-azlaam (arrows used for seeking luck or decision – a kind of fortune-telling).
(Fataawa Islamiyyah, 4/441).
We should note that everything which it is forbidden to do or to use, it is also forbidden to sell, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “May Allaah curse the Jews; animal fat was forbidden to them, so they sold it and consumed its price. When Allaah forbids a thing He also forbids its price.” (Narrated by Ahmad and Abu Dawood, 3026; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, no. 5107).
4 – It is not permissible to make images of animate beings, whether humans, birds or animals. If that is a three-dimensional image it is even more forbidden.
On this basis, it is not permissible to sell any of these figures made of ceramic etc., if they are of this nature. But if they are images of inanimate things such as mountains and other natural scenes, there is nothing wrong with making them and selling them.
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 13/73: “Buying and selling images of animate beings is haraam because it was narrated that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Allaah and His Messenger have forbidden the sale of alcohol, dead meat, pork and idols.’ (Agreed upon). That is because it may lead to exaggeration concerning the people depicted, as happened among the people of Nooh… and because of many other texts which also state that it is haraam to make images and to use images of animate beings.”
5 – With regard to medicines that contain alcohol, if the amount of alcohol contained is large and may cause intoxication if a person drinks a large amount of the medication, then this medication counts as alcohol and it is haraam to use it or sell it. But if the amount of alcohol is little and will not cause intoxication no matter how much is drunk, then it is permissible to use it and sell it.
It says in a fatwa issued by the Standing Committee concerning the sale of perfumes that contain alcohol: “If the amount of alcohol in the perfume reaches the level where it will cause intoxication if a lot of that perfume is drunk, then drinking that perfume is haraam, dealing in it is haraam, and that applies to all kinds of uses, because it is alcohol, whether it is a lot or a little. But if the thing with which the perfume is mixed, such as alcohol, does not reach the level where drinking a lot of it will cause intoxication, then it is permissible to use it and deal in it, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Whatever causes intoxication in large amounts, a little of it is haraam.’”
(Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 13/54)
6 – Whatever it is haraam for a Muslim to use, it is also haraam for him to sell it to either Muslims or kaafirs, because the kaafirs are also addressed by the rulings of sharee’ah, including rulings on minor issues, according to the view of the majority of scholars, and what is forbidden for Muslims is also forbidden for them. So it is not permissible to sell them alcohol or pork, or anything else which is proven to be forbidden in our religion, even if we assume that it is permitted to them in their religion, because the sharee’ah of Islam abrogates and corrects the laws that came before it.
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah 13/49:
Question: Is it permissible to deal in alcohol and pork if one does not sell them to a Muslim?
Answer: It is not permissible to deal in that which Allaah has forbidden, whether that is food or other things, such as alcohol and pork, even if one is dealing with kaafirs, because it was proven that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When Allaah forbids a thing, He also forbids its price.” (Narrated by Ahmad, no. 2564; Saheeh al-Jaami’, 5107). And because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed alcohol and the one who drinks it, the one who sells it, the one who buys it, the one who carries it, the one to whom it is carried, the one who consumes its price, the one who squeezes out the juice and the one for whom it is squeezed out.” (narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 1295; Saheeh al-Tirmidhi, 1041).
Comment