Title: Regarding Bribery Question: I am a sales executive in a multinational company. During the work we face many problems like RISHWAT (bribery) that many people demand. My question is that my job category is sales, my company gives the targets for achievements on monthly bases, and then I work for these targets, facing problems as the one mentioned above. If I ignore the demands of such officials, then I lose business and according to the company policy if I achieve the targets, only then do I get my commission on sales, otherwise, I do not get any commission on my work. Is my income halaal or haraam ? Please clear my confusion. Answer: I am extremely sorry to say that I could not fully comprehend your question precisely. What I have gathered by reading your letter a number of times is that you want to know whether: it is allowed to bribe an officer to cut a deal; and the commission income received on such deals allowable or not? I shall try to address these two questions in the paragraphs that follow. In case I have failed to understand your question, please correct me. Before I can answer your specific question, it seems appropriate that the connotation of the word 'bribery', as the concept is referred to in the Qur'an, is fully understood. The word 'bribery' refers to 'a payment made to a person, who holds a certain authority, in consideration of a misuse of that authority to gain a certain benefit for the payer, which the payer is legally and morally not entitled to get'. If you would take a close look at the connotation of the word 'bribery' as explained above, it shall become quite clear why Islam has prohibited it. Bribery not only gets for the rich that, which is not their right, but worse than that, most of the times, it deprives the poor of what is rightfully their. If bribery is allowed to flourish in a society, it shall soon result in the moral degeneration of the society to the extent that even justice shall become a saleable commodity. Rights shall be granted, not based on what one deserves, but based on what one can buy. It is because of these obvious evils of bribery that Islam is not willing to allow the existence of this institution in the society. Therefore, the answer to your question is quite simple. No person should bribe the authorities even if it is on behalf of his employer. After all, why should one be willing to be used by his employer for purposes that shall make him face the wrath of his Creator on the Day of Judgment. To deprive a third party of their legal and moral rights for one's employers, in my opinion, is even worse than bribing the authorities for one's personal gains. As far as the second question is concerned, its answer should also be quite evident from the above explanation. How can any income, which is gained from depriving a third party of its lawful rights be considered allowable? It is obvious that if Islam does not allow such business deals, then all the benefits that follow these deals should also be considered as falling under the same category of prohibited transactions. However, I would like to add here that the level of moral degeneration of our society [in Pakistan] has reached the extent where bribery is not only offered for getting more than one's rights but also demanded for granting the lawful rights and claims of helpless persons. Those in authority have become so addicted to this vice that, in most of the cases, they are not even willing to perform their official public office tasks without getting their "commission" from the beneficiaries of those tasks. In such a situation, it can sometimes become impossible for even an honest citizen to get his lawful rights without succumbing to the demands of these bloodsucking authorities. In my opinion, bribery, from the payer's perspective, is only a grave sin in the case where it is offered to get more than what a person lawfully deserves. On the other hand, when a person is forced to pay some amount to an official even to get his lawful rights, it cannot be termed as bribery from the payer's perspective, yet it would be nothing but bribery from the perspective of the official pocketing it. Even businesses in our society, like individuals, sometimes are forced to pay 'commissions' to government officials for getting their lawful rights. For example, a company may have to pay a certain amount of 'commission' to government officials just to get its bidding offer for a government contract processed. Under these circumstances, if a business succumbs to the demands of such officials the sin would be on the official and not the business. Though it must be remembered that adhering to honesty even in such pressing circumstances is a great virtue and shall therefore be rewarded, in the hereafter, as such. In the light of the above explanation, you shall be in a position to decide for yourself whether your case falls under the 'allowed' category or the 'prohibited' one. The basic principle that you should keep in mind while making the decision is that if any payment is made to an official to get something which is not one's lawful right is wrong and, therefore, all the benefits that may follow this wrong shall fall in the same category of 'wrong'. On the other hand, if any payment is made to an official merely to get that which is one's lawful right, then this is not bribery but a misuse of authority on the part of the official. 17 th August 1999