Employment in the octroi

Question

Question: A man is the superintendent of an octroi (a municipal toll levied on incoming goods) post. He came across a hadith in Fada’il-i Sadaqat (“Virtues of Charity”), p. 27, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: if someone offers an excuse to a person and he does not accept it, he incurs as much sin as the collectors of the octroi. Now the superintendent is very worried: should he work in the octroi or not?

Answer

The Shari‘a has declared the tax haram, and there is a severe threat (wa‘id) for the one who collects the tax; even his supplication is not accepted. Nowadays the state of the octroi is almost the same. Therefore, when he finds another job or a means of getting by, he should not work in the octroi.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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