Can I Sell an Android App Product that May Be Used to Spy People?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas
Question: Am I allowed to sell a android app product intended for monitoring your children and employees android phones?
We intend to sell a android phone app designed to monitor android phone location, conversations, and remote control via an online dashboard.
Just want to make sure I am not doing something illegal before we go public with this project.
Answer: assalamu `alaykum
I cannot comment on the legality of this service in your particular area. This is something you will have to figure out from your local authorities.
However, if it is a legal service according to the law of the land you reside in, it would be permissible under the shari`ah to provide such a service as it has a potential permissible use, such as monitoring one’s minor children. The fact that individuals may use it for purposes that are not permissible under the shari`ah, such as spying on strangers, does not make it impermissible as you are not responsible for the manner in which an individual uses a service that in you provide that has a permissible use.
Since you know more than me about this technology and the potential consequences of such a service in terms of peoples usage of it, you should of course think carefully about whether you are comfortable offering the service. Yet, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, from an Islamic legal viewpoint, it is permissible, although it may be best to avoid if you are aware of the harm outweighing the good.
Salman
Checked & Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.