Permissible and Impermissible employment

Joining the British army

Q: My question is that I am thinking of joining the British army as a officer not really a soldier. What does Islam say about a Muslim joining a non-muslim military force? Also what can I do and cant I do? For a example a war against a Muslim country does Islam allow me to still fight against them? Also spying etc on Muslims is that haram?

Working in hotels

Q: I live in India. I am a hotelier completed years diploma in 2001. Since then have been working in hotels. Alhumdulilah I have been careful not to work in any hotel which has a bar. At 2008 I gave up working at hotels and at present I teach in a culinary institute teaching front office / house keeping / environment. At the same time I also got the opportunity to be  consultant for upcoming projects (hotels/resorts). As a policy I have
Been choosy not to be involved in any hotel or resort having bar. At present I am a consultant for a resort owned by a Muslim in kerala/india, it
Does not have a bar at the same time clients very often bring their own liquor and they consume. As well group travellers who come for corporate
Meetings they too set up bar counters and consume liquor as a group. The Resort employees end up serving them and helping them to set up bar counter. The resort does not charge anything for setting up the bar or lending the Staff members. In some rare cases the clients send resort employees to fetch liquor from outside. Again the resort does not charge the client. My role normaly is to spend four full day time in the resort morning 10 a.M. To 05 A.M. and four evenings from for average of 3 hours. I streamline the operations of the resort and recruit employees and train them. I use this money from the resort to pay back the loan taken from a friend for my sisters marriage. Can you advice whether I should do it or stop as per Shar'ia?

Working as a research analyst in a stock brokerage firm

Q: I wanted to ask a question about the job of research analyst in a stock brokerage firm or mutual fund. My degree major is finance so I want to know if working as a research analyst for any stock market company is halaal? Basically, the job is to do research on companies, look at their financial statements and analyse their performance and then give a recommendation on whether to buy the stock or sell it. I understand that investing in Shari'ah compliant stocks are allowed but I won't be investing. I'll just be researching and giving opinions. Also, I won't be researching on banks and insurance companies whose business is unlawful. So is this job halaal?

Speaking a lie in order to get a job

Q: There's a guy we know who is 34 (almost 35) year's old, single (never married), and has spent decades unemployed.  He has also never had any real stability in his life as he has come from a broken home yet has managed to get some education, though while studying his studies was invariably being interrupted and disturbed by domestic circumstances and so his education wasn't of a decent quality.  He cannot do anything about this now because his circumstances are still not ideal for him to re-study or train to be something else, and he would rather find work so that he can start living a normal life.

He has intermittently worked but only for very short stints throughout his life with the longest period being one job for 6 months and the rest between one and two months, but the gaps between them were significantly long, usually over a year or more.  He has had many interviews but none successful apart from the unskilled, menial jobs he had managed to get, which were either temporary, subjecting him to unbearable environmental conditions, or haram.  The system in the country he lives in is set up to punish people who are unemployed for substantial periods by making it virtually impossible for them to find work, intentionally creating an underclass.

As a result of this chronic unemployment, he has become seriously depressed and has been suffering mentally.  In addition to his unemployment, it
certainly doesn't help being born and brought-up in a country that has ostracised and ousted him based on his ethnic, religious, and social background, and this has been among the factors that have made him feel compelled to leave that country.

As for his financial circumstances, his income is very low (unemployment benefit) and his rent is very high, so he is barely surviving, and has to
depend on people giving him food regularly, and with the economy not getting better, it can only get worse for him.  He has very little saved, which a large percentage of will have to go to a debt because of his former flat mate who wasn't able to pay his rent, which led to both of them getting evicted. Although there is no immediate requirement to pay what's owed, he wants to pay asap because he doesn't want to remain in debt.

Being unemployed for so long, the government has forced him onto what they call "work programme", which hasn't helped him whatsoever find work even though it was set up to do so.  However, what they call an "employment councillor" had mentioned to him that he doesn't know how to lie and that he, the employment councillor, got that job through lying, alluding that not lying was a factor that was preventing him from finding work.  The employment councillor was not the only person who had mentioned lying as a successful tactic to gaining employment: a colleague of his once told him something along the lines of "it seems that you have to lie to get a job", and an acquaintance, who is also a teacher, advised him to say that he had the experience employers required as they wouldn't check up on it, after coming back from working abroad.

Recently, well just under a year ago, he did a course in teaching English that was free for him as he was and still is unemployed, so he could teach
abroad, specifically Saudi Arabia.  He had heard that it was easy to get a job as a teacher there and they pay relatively well.  Unfortunately, when he
had finished his course and started to look for work he noticed that all the jobs required  1 or more year's experience but most required at least two
year's or more.

It dawned on him that most of those people he knew or heard of going to Saudi Arabia and other countries to teach must have lied to get those jobs.
Countries like Saudi Arabia are investing heavily on foreign staff to teach their people; this also includes giving money to specific nations by
intentionally employing their citizens and promoting their universities, certificates, and citizenships.

He is committed to the religion and doesn't want to do anything haram but he does not understand why it has been so difficult for him to live and find work.  We know that under certain exceptional circumstances it is permissible to lie; so my question is: does the circumstances of this man qualify as one of those instances whereby it is permitted to lie, so as to obtain and maintain employment and nothing more?

Designing logos for haraam products

Q: I am a graphic designer and I want to find out whether it is permissible to design logos for:

1. A bed and breakfast that will also use the logo for the wine and sausages that they produce. (In Italy, there are many bed and breakfasts located in the countryside that also produce and sell typical countryside products such as wines, sausages, etc.)

2. Non-Muslim clothing brands.

3. Can I design business cards and advertising material for businesses that may also sell haraam products?

4. Finally, is it permissible to design logos containing Christian religious symbols (such as the Christian cross, which is found in the flag and coat of arms of many Italian municipalities, or the cross of pharmacies)?

Working for an insurance company

Q: My question is as follows: My wife found a job at old mutual company and I told her it is haraam to work for an organisation which deals with interest, and she stopped. Now she found another job again with an insurance company, she is loading data on the computer. I don't have no info at all about the insurance company, is this place halaal or haraam for Muslims to work at?

Developing software for an insurance company

Q: I am a software engineer, my core competency is to develop & support software. Now I work for a software company which has projects only from one insurance company. So our company is responsible to make sure all IT related infrastructure is up & running all the time for this insurance company. And my job is to support the software application which the insurance company is using, so if the application has any issues or users of the application need any data/reports/help, I need to help them and make sure they don’t face any issues. Mostly I will be sitting in my company and supporting these applications. So I am not directly working for the insurance company. So my question is if it is permissible to work for this software company?