Is it permissible to rent one's house or shop out to a person who does a business that is haram?

Can I rent my house or shop out to a person whom I know will use it for something haram?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The issue has two important aspects like public interest and respect to human will and freedom. Abu Hanifa gives more importance to free will in general but also to public interest in one aspect in this issue in which he thinks differently from other scholars. According to him:

A Muslim can rent his cart or animal out to a dhimmi (member of Christian or Jewish minority) to repair a church; he can work in return for money; he can also do it by carrying alcohol. For, in that case, the task itself that he does is not a sin. For instance, it is not a sin to receive money in return for carrying something. This does not cause a sin to be committed. The sin occurs with the free will of the drinker. For, it is possible to carry it in order to empty it into a stream or to produce vinegar. However, to squeeze grapes in order to produce wine is haram.  

According to Abu Hanifa, it is permissible for a Muslim to rent his building out as a church or pub in a region where the majority of the people are dhimmis. For, the contract is made in order to make use of the house. Therefore, fee occurs when the building is given to the tenant. It is not a sin. The sin belongs to the act of the tenant; and he has free will to do it. However, they are not permissible in a region where the majority of the people are Muslims. For, dhimmis are not allowed to build churches and to sell alcohol openly there. Renting out a building as a bank is like renting it as a pub. (Wahba, p. 581-582)

When Ibn Qudama reports this view of Abu Hanifa's, he mentions "the countryside instead of a region where the majority of the people are dhimmis and states that Abu Hanifa's friends disagree about the explanation of why it is permissible in the countryside but not in other places", mentioning also synagogues and gambling houses. (Ibn Qudama, al-Mughni, V/552)

If the reflection of this view of Abu Hanifa's on Hanafi methodology is considered, it is difficult even to make a distinction like "the countryside or a region where the majority of the people are dhimmis". For, its basis in methodology is as follows:

If the reason between the cause and the decree is a deed based on free will, it is a real cause and it is not attributed to the decree, that is, the outcome of the deed; it is attributed to the reason between the cause and the decree. Therefore, for instance, the loss is not compensated by a person who shows a thief the place of the thing he will steal. [see Manafiud-Daqaiq, 270; Mir'at (Marginal notes of Izmiri), IV/406-407]

Here "compensation" is a decree; its reason is theft and its cause is the place being shown. The theft that is not justification for compensation is the deed of a completely free person; therefore, the decree is not attributed to the cause, that is, showing the place of the thing.

According to the other two imams of Hanafi madhhabs and the imams of the other three madhhabs, it is not permissible for a Muslim to rent his building out to a person who wants to use it as a church, synagogue, pub, gambling house, (bank), etc.  (Ibn Qudama, al-Mughni, V/552) For, it means to help sins. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) damned ten people about alcohol and one of them is the one who carries it. (see Abu Dawud, Ashriba 2; Musnad, I/316) Abu Hanifa's view regarding the issue is based on qiyas (analogy) and that of the two imams to istihsan (juristic preference). In most of the issues like this, istihsan is relied on.

As it is seen, according to the majority of the fiqh scholars except Abu Hanifa, it is absolutely not permissible for a Muslim to rent his shop or house out to a person who will use it for haram things.

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