The impermissibility of ascribing research to yourself that you did not do
19-7-2011 | IslamWeb
Question:
What is the ruling on a student assigning the task of conducting a research to another person because that student does not have enough time or because the research is too large? The assigned person will be given the required references and a sum of money, provided that he will do the research within a certain period of time. The research will be given to the subject instructor indicating that the student has done it by himself.
Thank you.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
It is not permissible for a student to give another person a sum of money to do a research for him and then submit the research to the instructor indicating that he has done it himself. By doing so, he tells a lie and commits deceit and forgery, which are forbidden by Allaah The Almighty in the Quran and by the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam , in the Sunnah. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):
· {And avoid false statement, inclining [only] to Allaah, not associating [anything] with Him.} [Quran 22:31-32]
· {And invoke the curse of Allaah upon the liars.} [Quran 3:61]
The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was reported to have said: “Anyone who boasts of being given something which he was not really given is like a person who wears two garments of falsehood.” [Muslim] This Hadeeth refers to a person who shows others that he owns something that he does not own and is thus adorning himself with falsehood.
It was also narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Whoever deceives us is not one of us.” There is no doubt that this behavior is a great deception, because it leads to obtaining a high academic certificate and perhaps getting assigned a position by virtue of this certificate, while in fact the holder of this certificate does not deserve it, and thus worldly and religious affairs would be ruined because of that. Therefore, a Muslim should avoid this behavior whether he pays or gets paid for it.
Allaah knows best.