Ban On Muslim Workers From Selling Liquor

-This writing has been sent to various English Newspapers, I do not know either they will publish it or not. You are free to copy it and spread it -

The move taken by Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) to ban Muslim from working at outlets which sell liquor has caused different opinion among people. This confusion occurs due to misunderstanding to Islamic ruling related to this issue. We can see that non-Muslim understand that Muslim cannot drink liquor. However, in their opinion, it is alright for Muslim to get involved in any business related to liqour as long as they do not drink it.


There is clear evidence which explain this matter. Prophet Muhammad said: Allah has cursed intoxicants, its drinker, its server, its seller, its buyer, its presser, the one who demands it to be pressed, its carrier, the one to whom it is conveyed and the one who consumes its price (Recorded in Sunan Abi Daud). This hadeeth clearly shows that a Muslim is not allowed to get involved in any activities which require them to prepare, sell, buy, bring, and produce and anything which is related to liquor.

In Islam, drinking liquor is an evil action. Due to that, if muslims involve in liquor business, it means they are helping other people to evil action. It is clearly against what is written in al-Quran. Allah said in al-Quran:  And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And fear Allaah; indeed, Allaah is severe in penalty [Quran 5:2]

This question might occur in our mind. How about those who work in shopping complexes or outlets like 7 Eleven which sell halal products and liquor? This question has been answered by World Islamic Jurisprudence Committee: If a Muslim cannot find work that is permissible according to shariah, he may work in restaurants run by non-Muslim, so long as he himself does not directly deal with pouring wine or carrying it or making it or selling it. The same applies to serving pork and other haram things. Due to that, those Muslims who work at shopping complex or outlet like 7 Eleven, should not involve in serving liquor. The owner of the outlet should provide separate counter for prohibited items like liquor, pork and so on, and only non-Muslim worker is allowed to work at that counter.

For Muslims, they should know that there are so many jobs which will not require them to do prohibited action. We can see how a single mother can support her family by selling’ nasi lemak’, ‘goreng pisang’ and so on. Can’t we see how a man supports his family by doing ‘dirty’ job like collecting rubbish and so on? These kind of jobs are ‘holier’ that getting involved in liquor activities.

Mohd Masri Bin Mohd Ramli