Can I Repent from a Haram Income While Still Benefiting from Others’ Haram Income ?
Answered by Shaykh Abdullah Anik Misra
Question
Can a person who worked at a haram job and earned haram money repent from his mistake, even if he is still eating haram earnings of others (like his family) while having the sincere intention of working and earning halal for himself? Are these two matters related, or can one repent from the first independently?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
Allah Most High says, “Turn to Allah in repentance all together, O believers, so that you may be successful.” [Quran, 24:31]
It is a condition of true repentance for a sin that one desists and resolves to leave the sin and actively works to free themselves from any association or ties to it. [Ghazali, Ihya Ulum al-Din]
Repentance for a sin doesn’t require that all other sins be stopped first; however, as a person tries to clean up their life and seek the pleasure of Allah Most High, they should work on eliminating all the sinful and blameworthy aspects of their lives wholly and gradually.
One can repent from the first sin while intending and asking Allah for the ability to leave the others and then turn towards the next one and the next one.
Resources
The Conditions Of Repentance – SeekersGuidance
A Reader on Tawba (Repentance) – SeekersGuidance
Wassalam,
[Shaykh] Abdullah Anik Misra
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Shaykh Abdullah Anik Misra was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1983. His family hails from India, and he was raised in the Hindu tradition. He embraced Islam in 2001 while at the University of Toronto, from where he completed a Bachelor of Business Administration. He then traveled overseas in 2005 to study the Arabic language and Islamic sciences in Tarim, Yemen, for some time, as well as Darul Uloom in Trinidad, West Indies. He spent 12 years in Amman, Jordan, where he focused on Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith Sciences, Prophetic Biography, and Islamic Spirituality while also working at the Qasid Arabic Institute as Director of Programs. He holds a BA in Islamic Studies (Alimiyya, Darul Uloom) and authorization in the six authentic books of Hadith and is currently pursuing specialized training in issuing Islamic legal verdicts (ifta’). He holds a certificate in Counselling and often works with new Muslims and those struggling with religious OCD. He is an instructor and researcher in Sacred Law and Theology with the SeekersGuidance The Global Islamic Seminary. Currently, He resides in the Greater Toronto Area with his wife and children. His personal interests include Indian history, comparative religion, English singing, and poetry.
