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Fatwa CenterWorking as data analyst in magazine publishing company
Question
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu. I have a question concerning my income which I earn living in the West. I work for a magazine company which produces multiple magazines. These magazines usually contain things that are halal (like news about politics, football matches, new technological devices and so on) but also sometimes things that are haram (like unislamic articles about sex before marriage, articles that contain images of women who are not properly dressed, haram advertisements etc.). My work has nothing to do with writing and/or helping to write unislamic articles, nor does my work have anything to do with designing and/or helping to design unislamic advertisements. I analyze online data which shows how many people visit the online versions of these magazines and which articles are read the most. This information is distributed to coworkers in the company. My question is: Are my earnings through that source halal? Wa alaykum assalaamu wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
As long as your work in this company does not involve participating in what is forbidden or helping in it and the magazines that are published by the company are in principle for permissible purposes, such as news about politics, science, etc., but forbidden matters are sometimes published in it, then it seems to us – Allah knows best – that your work is permissible and that the money that you earn from it is Halaal (lawful).
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen 
said in Liqaa’aat Al-Baab Al-Maftooh (the open-door meetings), Meeting no. 99, Question no. 9:
“There are well-known magazines dedicated for pictures or fashion; it is not permissible to buy or sell these magazines or to keep them. And there are magazines which publish news and articles but may contain a picture of the speaker or writer or a picture of some scenes. These are not forbidden, but is it permissible to keep them or must every single picture be erased? It seems that it is not essential to erase every single picture, because the pictures are not the purpose of the magazines. The person who buys a newspaper is not buying it for the pictures at all, so we can differentiate between magazines and newspapers that are focused on presenting images and those that do not focus on presenting images but which contain images. It is forbidden to sell, buy, or keep the first type but it is not forbidden in the case of the second type.”
The fatwa of Islam Questions and Answers reads:
“Newspapers and magazines which contain mostly permissible material, such as local and international news, some intellectual and political articles, some scientific articles and other permissible things, but may not be free of some pictures of women without hijab or some liberal articles or unacceptable ideas, but most of what they contain is permissible: There is nothing wrong with selling these, buying them, and distributing them, because the permissible aspect outweighs the unacceptable aspect.”
Allah knows best.
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