Question

During my dark times, I was a music producer, Alhamdulillah,Allah guided me and I quit music. Since I had possession of music instruments like Piano and DJ equipment, I decided to sell them to a non muslim friend who’s a musician too.. He hasn’t paid me yet, so after a while I felt like the money he would pay me would be haraam, what should I do? Also, since it would encourage him more to do Music and I have no idea how to take the instruments away from him to destroy them. How can I go about it?
Lastly, I was on debt to another friend who sold me the piano initially, is it okay if I took payment from this current friend so I can pay the other one?

Answer

It is not permissible to buy and sell musical instruments. Any such transaction would be invalid. This means that the initial purchase between you and the first seller was also not valid. The consequence from a shari’ah perspective would be that the items still belong to the first seller and they should pay you back the money which you paid to them or cancel out what you still owe to them. If this can be achieved it would be the ultimate solution.

If this cannot be achieved then an alternative solution could be that you tell the friend who sold you that piano that you have sold his piano to the other friend and ask him to collect the payment you owe from him directly. You can also instruct the non-Muslim friend who you sold the piano to, to directly pay the the friend you owe money to. In this way you can consider the trade to be taking place between them and you just facilitated this.

If this also doesn’t work then the only viable option seems to be that you take the money from the second buyer and give it to the first seller as though they are trading the items between each other.

In any case you should repent and seek Allah’s forgiveness for any involvement you had in this. We ask Allah to continue guiding you on the straight path and make it easier for you to stay steadfast upon it.

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel