Living in a House Purchased With Ill-Gotten Money

30-5-2018 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamu alaykum my father buyed our house with ill gotten wealth but he not all of it. He mixed halal money with this ill gotten money and buyed this house so does this still Make it haram for us.the ill gotten money amount was less or equal. Please reply soon jazakallah khairan

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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.

It is not forbidden for you to live in the house of your father, which he had bought with ill-gotten money –even if his money is pure ill-gotten money, let alone if it is mixed between lawful and unlawful.

The prohibition is related to your father and not to the very house that he had bought.

At-Taaj wal-Ikleel reads: "Ibn Abu Zayd said: 'The view of Maalik and the scholars of Madeenah, is that whoever has ill-gotten money and he purchases a house with it, then it is acceptable for one to purchase that house from the one who had purchased it with ill-gotten money.'"

Ibn Rushd said: "This is because the prohibition is related to the seller; he is the one who is responsible for it. The same view was reported from Ibn Mas'ood, as he said: ‘You are entitled to benefit from the thing, and the sin falls upon the one who earned it in a forbidden manner.'" [End of quote]

However, you should advise your father to repent to Allah from the ill-gotten money he had earned.

Allah knows best.