Selling Haram Items

Assisting in sin is forbidden. This can be understood from the following verse:

ولا تعاونوا على الإثم والعدوان (سورة المائدة:2)

Translation: And do not help each other in sin and aggression.(Al-Maidah: 2)

There are different categories of assisting in sin. One may be involved in assisting sin directly or indirectly. In general, a person will be sinful if he is involved in assisting in sin directly.However, what constitutes as direct or in direct requires detail. The Fuqaha have explained direct assistance and indirect assistance in sin as follows:

1)  Direct assistance of sin is if one sells an item with the intention ofcommitting sin. For example,one sells grapes of a vine yard to a brewery company. It is clear that the intention of selling the grapes to a brewery is to make wine.

2) The item sold or hired can only be used in a sinful activity and cannot be used for any other purpose. For example, selling or hiring of musical instruments. Musical instruments can only be used to compose music which is forbidden.

Indirect assistance of sinis of two types:

a) Close means of committing sin (Sabab-e-Qareeb). This is in the situation in which one becomes the means for a person committing a sin. For example, a person sells pork in his shop. In this scenario, a person will be the direct means of the consumption of pork.

b) Distant Means (Sabab-e-Baeed). In this situation, one is an indirect means of committing sin. For example, a person purchases bread from a store. From the energy gained from the bread, the person commits Zina. In this scenario, the merchant was a distant means of the sin coming into existence.  A person would not be sinful in such a scenario. [i]

You have enquired regarding three items, gaming computers, large speaker, TV sets and screens.

Gaming computers, due to their high performance and resolution, are often used to play video games. However, they are also used for regular activities and do not serve a singular purpose.Similarly, large speakers and TVs do not serve a single purpose. Large speakers and TVs can be used for permissible purposes. For example, loudspeakers can be used in the masjid, and TV’s can be used to display Salah time.

Accordingly, if you sell these items, you would not be sinful. You are not responsible if the customers use these items for sinful activities if you do not know that they will use it for sinful activities.[ii]