Is It Permissible to Work in a Place That Plays Music in the Background Sometimes and Is the Money That Comes from It Halal?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

I work in a place to take care of children, and as with most jobs in the United States, as you know, there is an issue with music. The manager plays music in the background sometimes, and I have to be with the children to make sure that they behave. Is it permissible to work in a place that plays music in the background sometimes, and is the money that comes from it halal?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

Yes. It is permissible to work at an establishment even though they play background music from time to time.

The ruling in this regard revolves around the central issue of employment at an establishment that is permissible in itself. The presence of music is a secondary characteristic of the job and does not have an effect on the ruling under the following legal axiom:

“Subsidiaries are subsidiary and are not given their own rulings.” [Ibn Nujaym, al-Ashbah wa al-Nazair]

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom Seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences.

He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib.

In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.