Will My Good Deeds Be Accepted Despite My Haram Income?

Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat

Question

I have a question regarding my goods deeds. I currently have SSI income which I know is haram because they go by your income to qualify you but my husband works under the table. I know it’s haram but I am struggling to try to leave the wrong I’m in. 

The thing is everybody does it and no one seems to think there’s anything wrong with it. I worry about it the first thing I wake up till right before I go to sleep. It has given me so much anxiety. I worry my worship and good deeds are not getting accepted.

Is it true my prayers are not accepted? What about my other good deeds like reading the Quran, etc? Also I’m sick, is it possible that no matter how much dua I make it won’t get answered?

Answer

Yes, the impermissible source of your income could be affecting you in many ways. Do not worry, however. Allah has left the door to repentance and rectification open. Turn back to Him and apologise. Ask for forgiveness for this, and take the means to returning the money you wrongfully received.

You need to speak to your husband and either get him to declare his employment along with yourself, or to stop it, so you are legally entitled to the SSI income. 

You will also have to return this money wrongfully taken to the government. There’s no need to explicitly mention why. You can find a means to return it to them without explicitly stating what has been happening.

It is perfectly possible that Allah has send you the illness as a reminder to get you back on track. Speak to your husband and let him reflect on this too.

Do not listen to the argument of ‘well, everyone does it!’ When has that justified doing something wrong? If people were to start drinking wine or burying their children alive at birth, would this argument stand? Clearly not.

Don’t let the fact that it’s to do with financial benefit deceive you. You good deeds will be the most valuable currency on the Day of Judgement, and what good will they be if they are not accepted?

Having Your Prayers Answered

As for your good deeds and supplications, this will have affected them. We know from the famous hadith of Sahih Muslim “Indeed, Allah is pure, and he only accepts the pure.“ The hadith them goes on to describe a unkempt traveller who calls out in need, with the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, commenting, “How could he get a response?“

In one narration, Sa’d b. Abi Waqqas asked the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, to prayed that Sa’d becomes of the people whose supplications are always answered. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, responded, 

“O Sa’d! Make your food pure, and you’re prayers will always be answered. I swear by the One in whose hand Muhammad’s soul is, a servant can [carelessly] toss an impermissible morsel in mouth and nothing will be accepted from Him for forty days. Any servant whose flesh grows through ill-gotten gain the fire has more right over him [then himself].“ (Tabarani)

We ask Allah’s protection. Do you best, and repent. Ask Allah to facilitate a means to get to a situation where everything is above board. 

See: Provision and Work: A Reader

May Allah facilitate the matter for you.

[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began his studies in Arabic Grammar and Morphology in 2005. After graduating with a degree in English and History, he moved to Damascus in 2007, where, for 18 months, he studied with many erudite scholars. In late 2008 he moved to Amman, Jordan, where he continued his studies for the next six years in Sacred Law (fiqh), legal theory (Usul al-fiqh), theology, hadith methodology, hadith commentary, and Logic. He was also given licenses of mastery in the science of Quranic recital. He was able to study an extensive curriculum of Quranic sciences, tafsir, Arabic grammar, and Arabic eloquence.