His university studies are financed by his father's ill-gotten money
25-10-2009 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalaamu Alaykum
My priority is Allah's pleasure and Akhirat and i would like to have best advice on the following situation.
My family does not follow Islam properly including my father which means he does not care much about halal haram issues in his business.
Allah(SWT) granted my hidiyat and gave me courage and motivation to follow Islam Wholeheartedly. Currently i am in in the middle of my BSc degree(as an external student) from a Uk's university.
The main concern with me right now is regarding my living plus education expenses. I am being provided by my father both for study and living and this creates uneasiness to me. His system of working is in chaos and seems far away from shariat.
Is it permissible for me to continue and complete my education uptil BSc(almost 2 years left) or do i have to get independent immediately leaving his sytem of life?
Is it true that my dependence on my father at this level is not justified according to shariat since one might argue that i am already 21 years old and as per shariat the obligatory dependence age is quite less that this. In todays world people normally attain bachelor level atleast for a decent entry to practical life of their own. Since the World education system is not derived from Quran and sunna, is it still permissible for me to complete my graduation?
I am really confused, kindly give me the best advice taking Allah's pleasure and Akhirat as the first priority. I have read opinions of some scholars that with regard to acquiring the money in the haram way its haram only for the one who earns it. Given that there are other opinions to this as well it really makes me uneasy. I want to be on the absolute safe side.
Although i desire to complete my education but I do not want to step outside the boundries of halal. Kindly also take into account that my father gets frustrated when i talk to him about leaving the education here but Allah comes first.
Kindly give me the best response
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
According to the view of the majority of the scholars 
a father is not obliged to spend on his adult son who is not unable to earn his living. However, if the father spends on his adult son so that the latter continues his studies, then the son is permitted to accept this unless the totality of the money of the father is from ill-gotten money, in which case, it is not permissible to benefit from it. But if the money of the father is mixed from lawful and unlawful money, then it is permissible to benefit from this money. However, if one can avoid this money, then this is better. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 81560 and 87211.
In any case, if you need to continue your studies, it is permissible for you to benefit from the mixed money of your father while always advising him in a soft manner to abide by the Sharee’ah and endeavour to earn lawful money.
As regards the ruling on studies in non-Islamic universities, then if you study beneficial and permissible sciences, like medicine, industry and commerce and the like, then this is permissible. However, if you study forbidden sciences, like the production of intoxicants [all kinds of alcoholic drinks], music and dancing, then this is not permissible.
Allaah Knows best.