Renting a property to a Christian media group

7-7-2010 | IslamWeb

Question:

My brother-in-law has a rental property, at present it is vacant, he has been approached by christian media group to lease it to them, they will be publishing and promoting Christianity, is it O.K. for him to lease his property to this organization, please give your expertise opinion on this issue as per your knowledge of our Deen. Waiting for your early response. Jazaka Allahu Khairan. Muzaffar

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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.

 

It is permissible for a Muslim to rent his house to a Christian as long as it is not stated in the rental contract or there is any indication that the house will be used in what is Islamically forbidden.

Therefore, if your brother-in-law knows that those Christians would use the estate to spread and propagate their religion, then it is not permissible for him to rent the estate for them, and it is not permissible to rent it to anyone whom one knows that he will use it in a forbidden matter. Shaykh Mustafa Ar-Ruhaybaani from the Hanbali School of jurisprudence, said: “It is not valid to rent a house to be used as a church, a synagogue, a hermitage, a Zoroastrian temple or for selling intoxicants, or gambling and so forth, whether this is conditioned in the contract or that there is any indication for it, because such purposes are forbidden and it is not permissible to rent property for them.”

Allaah Knows best.