Q: I have a very important question regarding a past incident, and I sincerely request guidance according to the Hanafi school of thought.
My sister and I were involved in a road accident, and sadly my sister passed away. We filed a legal case against the person who caused the accident.
After a few months, some people approached our family for a settlement. They offered us 17 lakh rupees. However, the settlement involved replacing the actual driver with another person who agreed to accept responsibility in exchange for money. At first, we refused, but because of financial hardship, lack of education, and believing that the money could help us fight the case, we eventually signed the settlement papers and accepted the 17 lakh rupees.
The person who accepted the blame did so willingly after receiving money, while the actual driver was protected. We are now using those 17 lakh rupees to build our house.
Our questions are:
Was it Islamically wrong for us to accept this settlement under these circumstances?
Is the 17 lakh rupees halal or not?
If we sincerely repent to Allah, does that make the money halal?
Since our house is being built with this money, is it permissible for us to live in that house?
If we have made a mistake, what should we do now to sincerely repent and correct it according to Shariah?
We deeply regret anything that may have been against the teachings of Islam and sincerely want to know the correct ruling so that we can do what pleases Allah.
A: The death caused through the accident is regarded as qatl-e-khata. The law of qatl-e-khata is that the person who caused the death is liable to pay the diyat. The diyat is 10 000 sharee dirhams (or its value in another currency) in the case of a male, and 5000 sharee dirhams (or its value) in the case of a female.
Hence, in this case, the person is supposed to pay 5000 dirhams (or its value in another currency) for causing the accident which resulted in the death of your sister.
If the 17 lakh Rupees was paid to your family by the person who caused the accident in lieu of the death of your sister he caused, then accepting the money from him was permissible. However, he will still need to pay the balance to make up the value of 5000 dirhams.
If the 17 lakh Rupees was paid to your family not for causing the accident, but to shift the blame onto an innocent person who was willing to take the blame for money, then accepting the money for this reason was not permissible.
Similarly throwing the blame on another person was not permissible, regardless of whether the person was happy to take the blame or not, and the money that was paid to that person for taking the blame was also not permissible.
And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
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