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  • Exam Cheating, University Admission, Huqooq Ul Ibad

    Posted by Mohammad Ali Soomro on June 3, 2024 at 1:13 am

    Hello there, Assallam u alaikum

    in Sindh, university admission depends 50% on board exams or O/A levels and 50% on Entrance exam

    my question is that in Sindh there’s such a desperate situation going on in boards. Way ahead than majority of exam centers allow open book type cheating even when it is knowledge of administration and invigilators.

    And that’s not all. The board offices themselves carry out under the table procedures of meddling the grade in board exam for money. and huge number of students get good grades this way. And even the exam checkers at board check papers so badly that in history of board exams, rarely anybody scored more than 90% in past years

    Ahmad, fearful of his careers survival and rights does cheating in exam. And his father also, watching all this anarchy and injustice going on, decided that if they don’t get up and run then they’ll get trampled in this horde of injustice. so he also gave money for Ahmad’s good grades.

    Now in the Entrance exam of university, Ahmad didn’t cheat even a single question and studied hard and scored 78% all on his own without any cheating.

    university counted both scores and then a combined scored was calculated, upon which, when compared to other students, placed him at 24th position of his district. (the university offers admissions to top 30 students from his district).

    Ahmad now is in 4th year of university, but now he feels some thoughts. that what if by cheating in board and scoring this way, what if he has usurped someone’s right? what if this seat belongs to someone else but he’s there to study. he has no way to ascertain this that this seat rightfully belonged to someone else or not because to know this information from many many different aspects are needed, of which he has none (the student below me cheated or not in board and if he didn’t then still did he score good in entrance enough to come above me or not. etc etc). And if he were to speculate and imagine that this seat was someone else’s. Then there’s no way to transfer the seat to that particular person (if that person is miraculously identified), the seat used up has been used up. he cannot give the admission in charity, nor can he give it to that student or his children even if that student was standing next to him physically.

    So my question is that looking at this whole scenario, is it halal for ahmad to keep continuing this university? he cannot repeat board exam again because even if he repeats, the board will give him the highest marks scored in all repeated attempts (the same marks previously scored with cheating). is this scenario like a stolen apple which is Haram on Ahmad to use it, in any way whatsoever? even if it cannot be transferred to the rightful student (if he does exist in reality) or given in charity, would it still be Haram?

    Dr. Irfan Shahzad replied 1 week, 6 days ago 2 Members · 18 Replies
  • 18 Replies
  • Exam Cheating, University Admission, Huqooq Ul Ibad

    Dr. Irfan Shahzad updated 1 week, 6 days ago 2 Members · 18 Replies
  • Dr. Irfan Shahzad

    Scholar June 3, 2024 at 8:15 pm

    We have discussed it before.

    Take the example of bribery. To get your rightful job done if Yiu have to give bribe, You are not blameworthy.

    If it was an open merit You would have got the seat, so you did not usurp others seat.

    Secondly, after getting an illegal admission ( with no excuse for illegal admission) one attains the required skills, his income through his skill is halal. However, the sin of getting illegal admission will be there.

  • Mohammad Ali Soomro

    Member June 4, 2024 at 5:05 am

    @Irfan76 sir at that time of board exams, there was always a fear that our rights can potentially be snatched by systems fault of allowing cheating in such a big population of students. so I cheated.

    then after getting admission, there’s truly no way at all to know that whether some student more deserving than me was left because of my cheating or no. in order to protect myself from injustice I had to go for cheating. but the drawback of this cheating is not being able to judge whether in saving ourselves from that trampede of injustice, what if someone’s else’s right be lost because of us? that’s only a speculation to know whether someone was really deserving than me or no. what would be our accountability towards Allah and what would be the ruling on us studying in this university, knowing that there’s both probabilities the this could have been someone else’s

  • Dr. Irfan Shahzad

    Scholar June 6, 2024 at 3:27 am

    If it is a situation of compulsion, one is excused.

    So the person has to decide in the given situation. If he finds he was compelled, it is ok, if he did something wrong, he should repent.

    • Mohammad Ali Soomro

      Member June 8, 2024 at 10:26 am

      @Irfan76 and sir does repenting here means he has to leave the University? or it’s just that he has to seek Allah’s forgiveness and try to give some sadaqah in his favor?

  • Dr. Irfan Shahzad

    Scholar June 8, 2024 at 8:01 pm

    It means asking for forgiveness. Sadaqah is good to show one’s repentance.

    • Mohammad Ali Soomro

      Member June 8, 2024 at 11:20 pm

      @Irfan76 sir if for suppose someone else was having more skill than and me and didn’t cheat in exam and he could have gotten the admission but he didn’t. so he missed on something that could potentially be his, in this case I would be having some responsibility of sin (if I was not truly in compulsion to cheat), but I do not need to get rid of admission and leave university because it’s not like he already had ownership to that thing and I stole it.

      just like a stolen car, if I take it then it belongs to it’s owner and I have to get rid of it any how.

      but in this case because admission was not given to him, it was not under his ownership. (it could have been potentially given to him, if I had not cheated). so here it’s not like after repentance I have to get rid of admission anyhow, right sir?

  • Dr. Irfan Shahzad

    Scholar June 10, 2024 at 1:08 am

    It is not known particularly that a more deserving one’s right has been usurped. Therefore we have no choice but to see if You have got required competence for the degree or not.

    However if your conscience doesn’t allow this concession you may leave the university and try to get admission on merit.

    • Mohammad Ali Soomro

      Member June 10, 2024 at 1:16 am

      @Irfan76 and sir if someone’s right had been usurped for example, will it make my degree Haram? even if there’s no way to transfer admission to that man, or even give it in sadaqah. the University will not transfer it even if I go and tell them that right now I’m in fourth year but in first year such and such man was more worthy. the University will say that what has been given has been given and no way to transfer. the seat can be either used by me, or it’s resources can be wasted and I have to pay 5 lakh fine for leaving university, as no other student will be replaced in this seat and it will get wasted.

  • Dr. Irfan Shahzad

    Scholar June 13, 2024 at 5:35 am

    Make it a real case. Nominate a real person then build yiu case. If that imaginary person still bothers you, Yiu can give up your degree to satisfy your conscience.

    • Mohammad Ali Soomro

      Member June 13, 2024 at 5:38 am

      @Irfan76 sir I didn’t understand this thing, make it a real case? what does it mean?

  • Dr. Irfan Shahzad

    Scholar June 13, 2024 at 5:44 am

    That find the real man whose right has been usurped.

  • Mohammad Ali Soomro

    Member June 14, 2024 at 1:48 am

    @Irfan76 he’s unreachable and unrecognizable. and no certainty to know that what marks of his are through cheating, so it’s impossible

    • Dr. Irfan Shahzad

      Scholar June 14, 2024 at 2:38 am

      then leave it and develop the required competence to make yourself worthy of this admission.

  • Mohammad Ali Soomro

    Member June 15, 2024 at 6:42 am

    @Irfan76 and sir there’s a few more side questions regarding these themes that I wanted to ask. one of them is that.

    If Ahmad’s car is stolen by Rehan, we say that this car is Ahmad’s property and right. and even if Rehan keeps it for years and years. it will remain Haram for Rehan to keep it, because this originally belongs to Ahmad and it is not the property of Rehan so he has no right to use it or keep it. and if he uses it further, he’ll get sin further.

    Similarly, if a person after his admission like this in university, spending half his time already in university. really realizes for example that such and such particular person’s right was usurped because he didn’t cheat and had I not cheat also this particular man would have received admission. so in this case will the continuation of studying in this university also be termed Haram by saying that this does not belong to you, it belongs to that man, and the further you use it the more sin you’ll get. will his continuation of studying be termed Haram analogously to the usage of car being Haram on Rehan?

    we also term this man who cheated in exam and got admission, as “you usurped someone’s right”. and we also term Rehan that he “usurped someone’s right by stealing”. as the continuation of use car will be haram for Rehan, as the car is “someone else’s right”… will the continuation of studying in university also be terms Haram under remaining “someone else’s right”?

  • Dr. Irfan Shahzad

    Scholar June 15, 2024 at 7:29 pm

    The example is not analogous. The admission was not achieved by or a property of a person. If You could develop the required skills You are the person who deserved it. The seat was created to produce a man with a particular skill set. If you fulfil the requirements the purposes is achieved.

  • Mohammad Ali Soomro

    Member July 11, 2024 at 2:06 am

    @Irfan76 sir I wanted to ask a dimension of this question. For example someone was not having compulsion, but he cheated in exam because he wanted to get admission somewhere. generally, majority of students were giving exam clean without cheating. he cheated in exams and then he got admission to an institution where admission was given on competitive basis. After years when he is about to graduate, he feels regret for his past actions of how his cheating had striped someone away from his right to study in that university, and he was aware of that but at that time, all he was feeling the urge was to get admission in that institute for his secure future.

    Will the Farz of Qanoon of Qisas or it’s corollary, or it’s aim and objectives, play role in this example? I know that Qisas is usually said about murder. but as it’s corollary, will this example come here? because as he cheated, someone else was striped away from their chance of studying in that college and get that degree. Is he morally required Islamically to leave the University even if he is in the final year and about to graduate? and his continuation of studying, later getting a degree and further securing a job using THIS Degree, will all of these acts be Haram for him to do and take benefit from, because he was supposed to be retributed with same way as the damage was done to other by him?

    The other question comes that when he cheated in FSC and applied in university, the damage he caused to someone else was they not getting admission which would have caused them potential damage from minimum ‘one year wastage (if this person applied next year and got selected)’ – to – ‘Potentially leaving that career because of situation that were there (I.e he couldn’t try another time for university)’.

    But now if this Man who cheated and got admission, if at this stage he surrenders his admission. his automatically 6-7 years will be wasted minimum (the years he already studied in university and are passed by annual exams and even after expulsion, he cannot re apply on his previous FSC result, because he cheated on it, so he would be needed to start from FSC again if he were to go, and that’s the minimum damage that will come).

    So sir can you please explain that will this person who cheated, will his continuation of studying in university of what is left of the course and later using that degree to secure a job, be Haram actions, as he was to get rid of them as retribution justice to the oppressed? as a corollary of Qisas concept in Islam?

  • Dr. Irfan Shahzad

    Scholar July 13, 2024 at 1:19 am

    The answer is given on another thread.

  • Dr. Irfan Shahzad

    Scholar July 13, 2024 at 1:21 am

    The answers to your questions about the income be haram or halal has been given many a time.

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