Praise be to Allaah.
It is haraam to set up
discos and work in them, as it is also haraam to sell alcohol. The wealth
that is earned from that is evil, haraam earnings, because when Allah
forbids a thing, He also forbids its price. The Prophet (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) stated that alcohol is cursed, as are the one who
sells it, the one who drinks it and the one who carries it, as it says in
the hadeeth narrated by Abu Dawood (3674) and Ibn Maajah (3380). It was
narrated that Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger
of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Allaah has
cursed khamr and the one who drinks it, the one who pours it, the one who
sells it, the one who buys it, the one who squeezes it, the one for whom it
is squeezed, the one who carries it and the one to whom it is carried.”
Classed as saheeh by
al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood.
It was also narrated by
at-Tirmidhi (1295) from Anas ibn Maalik (may Allah be pleased with him) who
said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
cursed ten with regard to wine: the one who squeezes (the grapes etc), the
one who asks for it to be squeezed, the one who drinks it, the one who
carries it, the one to whom it is carried, the one who pours it, the one who
sells it and consumes its price, the one who buys it and the one for whom it
is bought.
What is required of one who
has fallen into any of that is to repent to Allah, may He be exalted, gave
up the sin, regret what has happened in the past and resolve never to go
back to it. As for the wealth that he acquired by haraam means, whatever he
has consumed or spent, he does not have to do anything about it. Whatever he
still has with him, he had to get rid of it according to the most correct of
the scholarly opinions. So he should spend it on the poor and needy, and
other charitable good causes.
If he is in need of the
money, then he may take of it whatever will suffice him, and get rid of the
rest. There is nothing wrong with him taking some of it as capital for
business or permissible work.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn
Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: If this prostitute and wine
maker repent and they are poor, it is permissible to give them as much of
this money as they need. If he is able to engage in trade or to do a craft
such as weaving and spinning, he may be given some of the money as capital.
End quote from Majmoo‘
al-Fataawa, 29/308
We praise Allah, may He be
exalted, for having guided your brother to think of repentance, and we ask
Him, may He be glorified, to accept it from him and to forgive and pardon
him.
It must be pointed out that
what he is required to do is to get rid of the haraam wealth only, and not
all the wealth that your brother has earned. No doubt the two restaurants
served some halaal foods, as well as haraam things such as alcohol. What he
has to do is to work out how much of the profits came from haraam things,
and get rid of that money. As for the profits that came from selling halaal
foods, that money is permissible for him and there is nothing wrong with him
benefiting from it; he does not have to get rid of it.
As for your questions, the
answers to them are as follows:
Firstly:
With regard to the money
that your mother and others took and benefited from it, they do not have to
do anything about it. The same applies to whatever they still have of it;
they may benefit from it. The basic principle concerning that is that money
that is haraam because of the way in which it was acquired is haraam for the
one who acquired it only. As for the one who took it from him in a
permissible way, such as if he gave it as a gift or spent it on his family,
and the like, it is permissible for him. So there is no blame on your family
for what they have taken of this money.
Similarly there is no blame
on the one who took a loan from it, because the sin has to do with the one
who acquired the money in a haraam way only; there is no sin on the one who
borrowed it from him.
Secondly:
Partnership with a person
in whose wealth there is any haraam element is valid, although it is better
not to get involved in it, and any profits resulting from this venture are
halaal in sha Allah. But your brother has to get rid of the haraam wealth,
as stated above.
Thirdly:
Among the ways of getting
rid of haraam wealth is to give it to a poor person who needs to get married
or who needs accommodation, or the one who will set up a business from which
he will spend on himself, and the like. It is permissible to put this money
into a fund from which needy people may borrow, but the wealth cannot come
back to your brother and he cannot regain possession of it, because he is
obliged to get rid of it, as stated above.
Fourthly:
Whatever your brother has
given to the poor of maintenance and regular income is something
praiseworthy and he will have a reward commensurate with the proportion of
halaal wealth in what he gave. Perhaps these good deeds were a cause of his
having been guided and it may be the result of sincere prayers by those
needy people. He should set aside some of this money that he has to get rid
of, and give it to these poor people, and he will be rewarded for doing so.
We ask Allah to help and
guide us and you, and to make us all steadfast.
And Allah knows best.