Fatwa #1425215 May 2006United States of America
I have a question regarding my job function in a cable company and the income drived through it. I work for a cable company whose main source of income is TV cable prvider
Question
I have a question regarding my job function in a cable company and the income drived through it. I work for a cable company whose main source of income is TV cable prvider (about 300-400 TV channels) to homes. Some of these channels are pornographic nature as well. Other sources of this cable company is Internet, a little bit of voice over IP and a wide variety of music channels. I work in the capacity of a lead network design engineer for one of the big regions under this cable company. My responsibilties include design, implementation and support of the network devices (hardware and software routers, switches and other communications equipment) which runs all of the above sources mainly TV (about 75%), Internet, Voice over IP and music channels. I am not responsible for the contents of any of these but helps through my netwrok expertise to carry from one place to another within my assigned region. Lately I was having doubt about the income and started looking another job and recently got an offer from some other company. Should I leave the present job? Are my doubts valid about my income? JazakAllah for your kind response to this matter.
Answer
In principle, the Cable Network is not confined and specifically for one particular evil act. The cable network could be used for multiple purposes. As such, your employment in the cable company does not fall in the category of assisting in sin. However, you state that your company’s source of income is the TV cabler and much of TV channels do broadcast un-Islamic programmes.
You state that your company’s main source of income is the TV cabler and much of TV channels do broadcast un-Islamic programmes. In that regard, your employment does contribute indirectly to the evils of the TV. In principle, you will not be sinful and your income will not be Haraam but if you have an adequate alternative to this employment in which you will not be indirectly contributing to sin then, that will be an act of Taqwa.
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai