Can I Work in a Restaurant That Sells Alcohol?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: I work as a porter in a restaurant that sells food and alcohol. I clean the whole restaurant from the kitchen, to the dining room and the bar. Is the work and income from this permissible?

Answer: Assalamu alaykum

This would be permissible.

The porter job that you describe is in itself permissible as it merely involves cleaning. Consequently, the income you earn from it is also permissible. Even though you are working in a place that deals in the impermissible, the job you yourself are doing is not interdicted and nor are you directly assisting in any sinful action.

For more on this see: Does Working at a Place Where Alcohol Is Sold Make One’s Income Impermissible? Can I Work at a Supermarket That Sells Pork and Alcohol? Can I Work at a Supermarket Checkout That Sells Pork and Alcohol?

[Ustadh] Salman Younas

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabanni

Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studies Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir.