Career in the arts; halal or haram income

Everyday Islamic Finance Business and Career Questions
#1

I (21 year old female) have a huge passion for marketing and content creation. At the moment I couldn’t imagine seeing myself do anything else. I love the creative process but I also know my limits as a Muslim.

I recently started a job as a Marketing, Communications and PR officer at a sixth form college in the UK. I work with the student recruitment team so I will be creating content and working on campaigns to have more students join the college. My tasks include content creation, writing press releases, photography, designing leaflets and flyers, hosting open days and graduations and other school events, invigilating exams etc.

As part of the position, I will work with current students and staff to create content for the social media pages and the websites. I am afraid that down the line, I may be given a task that may involve haram such as using music in a social media post, writing about halloween or working on posts about the lgbtq, as UK schools tend to want to be inclusive. I may also need to approve other members of the teams work that have haram linked to it or edit it and post.

But this I think is also a struggle of living in the Western world. I have been praying Tahajjud to Allah to help me avoid this or for it to not come my way.
I have already made the decision to not use music in my content at all and I pray Allah makes it easy for me…Ameen.

I’m not sure if my income would still be classified as halal, if I had to carry out one of these tasks, even if I don’t believe in them.

I’ve watched videos and scholars have said things like if you don’t work on haram content, your income is not haram or if you do 50-50 halal to haram ratio or a tiny portion includes doing haram, your income isn’t haram.

I am just really worried that I could earn haram income. And I’m scared of the repercussions. My mind has not been settled and I’ve been overthinking. I’ve been making a lot of dua too. If I could get guidance on if this falls into halal or haram income that would be very much helpful. And I think it’s tricky because the task description also involves tasks that are completely halal and it’s marketing for education.

But the thing is I also don’t see myself quitting this job either. It’s my first job as a graduate though and I live at home and bills are covered. I prayed Istikharah before taking the job.

#2

same question I have because I am a writer and help students complete their assignments, and this is my website “University of Warwick Assignment Writer.” My question is, because assignment completion is the responsibility of a student, if I did it on behalf of the student and charged some amount from the student, is the amount I charged hala or haram?

#3

Hello,

please could I get some advice on this? I still haven’t heard back. Islamic advice would really go a long way in helping me decide the future of my career.

#4

Hi, does anybody have an experience of this? Or any advice?

#5

May Allah bless you.

You’ve correctly pointed out that engaging in actions deemed haram (impermissible) can raise concerns about the permissibility of the income earned from such activities, according to Shariah principles. My advice to you is to seek a permissible (halal) alternative within the same field, allowing you to continue following your career passion. Given your youth and the challenge of finding jobs without prior experience, it’s understandable to continue your current job while actively searching for a better opportunity. Meanwhile, keep praying (making dua) for Allah’s guidance in finding a suitable job.

And Allah knows best!

#6

Ameen. Jazakillah Khaiyran.