Back to search

I know that direct assistance to disbelief is disbelief, but indirect assistance, such as buying stories or watching movies that contain polytheistic beliefs, or buying something from a Christian when the price of it might be used to build a church, differs in ruling from direct assistance, especially when there is no intention of assisting disbelief.

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Assisting in disbelief is divided into two categories:

1. Assistance accompanied by contentment with disbelief, love for it, approval of it, and the desire to spread it: This is disbelief by consensus.

2. Mere assistance with the limbs without loving disbelief or being content with it: Although this is a grave and heinous sin, it does not constitute disbelief that expels one from the faith. An example is someone who works in building a temple or a church or sells crosses merely for the sake of earning money.

It is necessary to be cautious of exaggerating in ruling something as forbidden merely because it is an assistance to disbelief. For indeed, dealing with non-Muslims through buying and selling is permissible by the agreement of scholars, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, dealt with Jews and polytheists.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy