Bribes are strictly prohibited

31-7-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

We work as commission agents / Traders of yarn and fabric.We work with different factories and purchase and sale their goods. Many times managers of these factories demand some share from us for selling and purchasing the goods.We know this is wrong and also try to avoid this. These managers have also established some companies through their relatives or friends.We want to know that is it ok for us to work with these companies which are owned by some relatives / friend of the mangers instead of directly purchasing from the company and giving bribe.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.

It is impermissible for you to offer a bribe to those managers since it is authentically narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Amr that he said, “The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, has cursed the one who offers a bribe and the one who takes it.” [At-Tirmithi: Hasan Saheeh (good or sound)]

Another version of the Hadeeth reads, “The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, has cursed the one who offers a bribe, the one who takes it, and the mediator between them.”

Therefore, it is prohibited to ask for, give, or accept a bribe.

As for dealing with these companies, there is no harm in that as long as the transactions are lawful, especially if this helps to avoid dealing with those managers who want to take bribes and consume people’s wealth unjustly.

Allaah Knows best.