Fatwa No : 36291
students hire people from India or Pakistan to do their assignments

students hire people from India or Pakistan to do their assignments

Dear Sir! I need to know two things: (1) Your Fatwa on students who hire other people to do their homework. (For example: Arab students usually hire people from India or Pakistan to do their homework/assignments and even quizzes, which they then submit passively and get graded. This has become and industry in itself) (2) All advance knowledge is very expensive in terms of books and papers. So I don’t have enough money from where I can buy these books or papers. The only way for me to advance in my career and knowledge is to go to some Russian websites from where I can download pirated or stolen research papers. They are linked with international libraries and we are just using these papers at a price these companies paid. It is as though you have paid for a canal for your students but we are also drinking from it (more or less) when we don’t have any other source of water.

الجوابُ حامِدا ًو مُصلیِّا ً

Students must complete their homework or any assignments given to them by the institute they study in on their own. Seeking this type of assistance for writing or preparing one’s assignment is against the law. Having someone else prepare ones school work or assignments is indeed disloyalty and deception (to the institute in which one studies) and it is also detrimental to one’s ability to learn, hence it is not permissible as per Shari’ah. Such students must increase their proficiency in learning and prevent others from falling into falling into such deception by completing his assignments on his own. Furthermore, those who are paid to fulfill these assignments are equally involved in this wrong and their earning is also not devoid of disapproval (from the Shari’ah). This is why one should avoid this type of transactions.
As for the research papers that are provided on websites, there is generally no explicit or inexplicit permission to download and study/read them. In fact, only those who have paid for them can download and study/read them. Therefore it is not permissible for one to obtain these research papers through any alternative method, which should be avoided.
And Allah knows best.