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Is it permissible to accept food and drink from the wife's father, whose wealth is suspected of being unlawful due to its disproportionate relation to his profession, and what is the ruling on inheriting from him?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If you are certain that your father-in-law's wealth is mixed with ill-gotten gains, and scholars differ on the ruling regarding eating from it, the preponderant view is that it is permissible to eat from it if the lawful portion is greater. It is disliked if the unlawful portion is greater. It is recommended for one who eats from it to intend to eat from the lawful part. However, it is forbidden to eat if what is being eaten is from the very essence of unlawful wealth. If it is merely a suspicion, then one should not think ill of others but rather assume it is lawful unless proven otherwise, especially if the owner of the wealth is upright. Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Indeed, some people were judged by revelation during the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and now revelation has ceased. We now judge you based on what appears to us from your actions. So, whoever shows us good, we trust him and bring him closer, and we have nothing to do with his inner self; Allah will hold him accountable for his inner self. And whoever shows us evil, we do not trust him or believe him, even if he claims that his inner self is good."

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

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