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I got a job in a company where they develop software for payment gateways like PayPal (not PayPal).

Is it halal to develop software like this?

IT professionals and those who know about payment gateway software answer this question.

Please don't give generic answers, I need specific answer regarding this with authentic references

Rebecca J. Stones
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Azik Abdullah
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2 Answers2

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Developing payment software by itself is neither halal or haram - like manufacturing a knife... it depends how it is used exactly...

IF you sell it to someone you know for a fact will use it in a haram way (like killing someone unlawfully for example) THEN the sale itself becomes haram.

There is a principle in Islam that basically says if the outcome is sure to be haram then even halal steps leading to that outcome become haram in that specific case. This can be illustrated with grapes for example... you can grow them, you can make juice and sell that or sell the grapes themselves. That is all by itself totally halal. BUT if you happen to know that your customer (or the customer of your customer) is going to use your product in making wine for sure THEN you are not allowed to sell to them. In case you are a worker in such a "haram grape production operation" then you should get a new job as fast as possible.

One reference in this regard it the following Hadith:

It was narrated that Anas ibn Maalik said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed ten with regard to alcohol: the one who squeezes it (the grapes etc), the one for whom it is 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, the one who consumes its price, the one who buys it and the one for whom it is bought.”

Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 1259; Ibn Maajah, 3381.

This hadeeth was classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi, no. 1041.

Back to your payment software:
It depends on what functions are in (esp. are any functions related to interest calculation/payment in there?) the software ? Are the customers of your company doing haram stuff (like selling porn or alcohol) based on your software ? Is your company just selling the software OR is the company a payment provider (like paypal is) or does the company host it in a cloud-like manner ? etc.

IMHO nobody can give you a really robust answer since you don't provide necessary information. It is not only the software development side that needs to be "evaluated" for such an answer... Further examples on similar topics see here and here.

BEWARE that in some cases the answer might even depend on which Madhab you follow.

Yahia
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    Bro, Can you provide your answer with some citations from Scholars ? because OP asked for references. Do that and you will have my upvote :-) – Sohaeb Feb 10 '13 at 03:23
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    @Suhaib you got my upvote... what I mean is: there is not enough information to give a robust answer... IF the OP provides enough information (see the questions I asked backed) then it is indeed possible to get/give a good answer. – Yahia Feb 10 '13 at 07:17
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Someone asked Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen the similar question:

The question was: Am I allowed to develop a website for a company and I know that they do some halal and some haram work ?

So the sheikh replied:

If most of the work which this company does is haraam, then it is not permissible for him to do that. If most of what they do is permitted, then it is permissible for him to do it. If they (haraam and halaal elements) are the same, then he should not do it, on the assumption that what is haraam will outweigh what is halaal. And Allaah knows best

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Sohaeb
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