Question:

I’m going to start an Amazon FBA business, for it to be successful I have to purchase my goods from China on a website called Alibaba. The reason for this is it’s the cheapest and has a vast number of products and it’s safe to use. Theres no alternative company in another country offering a service as good as Alibaba and majority of Amazon sellers use it.

However, Alibaba has invested in an AI company called Sensetime. Sensetime is developing AI algorithms for Alibaba to develop and improve their service as well as gather data on customers.According to the American government which isn’t trustworthy to be honest and news articles sensetime is being used by Chinese government to track the Uighurs population in Xinjiang province. Sensetime also has investors from American companies such as Qualcomm and Japenese companies such as Honda.

My question, is it haram to be using Alibaba to get products for my Amazon company as it supports the Chinese economy which the chinese government is using to persecute Muslims and should I boycott China products. And does it apply to American and Israeli products which are supporting the American and Israeli economies which is negatively affecting the Muslim countires.

Answer:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

Your question refers to two points: Assistance in sin and boycotting a company or country. As a backdrop, Sensetime is a large company specializing in artificial intelligence particularly in facial recognition. Alibaba is a conglomerate of businesses including artificial intelligence, but it is most famous for its web business-to-business platform hosted at Alibaba.com. Alibaba has heavily invested in and partnered with Sensetime. It is thought that it employs Sensetime’s technology in its businesses as well. Sensetime markets its facial recognition technology to government entities and is widely thought to be used in the tracking and surveillance of populations including the Muslim Uighur population of China.[i] Currently, China is engaged in a host of human rights abuses towards the Uighurs including a systematic attempt to wipe out their ethnic and religious identities. Sensetime’s technology enables China’s abuses.

Muslims are forbidden from assisting others in sin. Rather, we are commanded to assist people in doing good.

وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَىٰ ۖ وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ

Help each other in righteousness and piety, and do not help each other in sin and aggression. Fear Allah. Surely, Allah is severe at punishment. Al-Mā’idah:2

In today’s interconnected and integrated world, it is impossible to avoid assisting in sin to some degree. Assistance can be direct and outright, or it can be subtle and far removed. The former, including acts like selling grape juice to a winemaker, is forbidden. The latter, like selling food to a sinning Muslim or non-Muslim, is assistance in sin but permissible. This is because the act of selling food is itself permissible, and it is unknown to the seller if it will be used for good or evil since it has multiple uses.

This is reflected in the works of the fuqahā’ by a differentiating those acts which are assistance in sin (إعانة على المعصية) from those that are a means for it (السبب إلى المعصية). The former includes those things which assist directly in the sin like selling grape juice for the purpose of making wine or selling musical instruments. This is forbidden. The latter can be direct like selling weapons to a tyrant (impermissible) or indirect like selling steel to him. If it is unknown how the steel is used, then the transaction is completely permissible.[ii]

Returning to the question, Sensetime’s facial recognition technology is itself permissible. Besides impermissible usages like Uighur oppression, it also has beneficial uses like cellphone security or locating lost children or known criminals. Alibaba sells a large range of products employing a large range of platforms among which is likely Sensetime’s technology. Engaging in business with Alibaba.com may be a means to assisting the Chinese government in oppression, but it is indirect, far-removed, and impossible to know if one’s money will make its way there. For these reasons, it is permissible to purchase items from Alibaba.com

The second part of the question relates to boycotting products from countries known to harm Muslims like China, Israel, and the United States. Muslims are brothers to one another. As such, we are always concerned about their welfare.

إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّـهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

All believers are but brothers, therefore seek reconciliation between your two brothers, and fear Allah, so that you may be blessed with mercy. Al-Ḥujurāt:10

We are all brothers in the metaphorical sense because our iman binds us together, and we will be together in the Hereafter. We attempt to rectify ourselves and our conditions.[iii] The Prophet ﷺ said:

الْمُسْلِمُ أَخُو الْمُسْلِمِ لاَ يَظْلِمُهُ وَلاَ يُسْلِمُهُ مَنْ كَانَ فِي حَاجَةِ أَخِيهِ كَانَ اللَّهُ فِي حَاجَتِهِ وَمَنْ فَرَّجَ عَنْ مُسْلِمٍ كُرْبَةً فَرَّجَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ بِهَا كُرْبَةً مِنْ كُرَبِ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ وَمَنْ سَتَرَ مُسْلِمًا سَتَرَهُ اللَّهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ

The Muslim is another Muslim’s brother. He neither oppresses him nor forsakes him. Whoever engages in the needs of his brother, Allah will take care of his needs. Whoever removes a difficulty from a Muslim, Allah will remove one of the difficulties of the Day of Judgment. Whoever hides a Muslim’s faults, Allah will hide his faults on the Day of Judgment.[iv]

Boycotting is among the means we can use to protect the interests of Muslims and prevent harm to them. A couple of things should be kept in mind. First, boycotting a country’s products and services is permissible if it leads to the desired result of decreasing oppression and correcting people.[v] Second, to the extent possible, one should differentiate between a country and its people. A country’s policy may not reflect the wishes of its people. There may be people in the country that are good as Allah states:

لَيْسُوا سَوَاءً ۗ مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ أُمَّةٌ قَائِمَةٌ يَتْلُونَ آيَاتِ اللَّـهِ آنَاءَ اللَّيْلِ وَهُمْ يَسْجُدُونَ

Not all of them are alike: Among the people of the Book there are those who are steadfast; they recite the verses of Allah in the night hours, and they prostrate themselves. Āl-`Imrān:113

The best approach is one in which there is mutual counsel and a unified approach. On an individual level, if it is known that purchasing a product directly harms an innocent person, then it should be avoided. If a person feels the gain in rectification outweighs the harm, then he may make an individual decision to buy other products, if available.

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Mufti Faisal bin Abdul Hameed al-Mahmudi (S1)
www.fatwa.ca  

[i] “There are many ways that Alibaba can use facial-recognition technology in its core business. In addition to payment verification, the company can deploy software from SenseTime in its growing number of offline retail outlets to track customer movement and provide promotions.”

(https://qz.com/1247511/)

“Among many AI companies in China, Sensetime has been involved in developing AI to identify and track Uighurs for the purpose of surveillance and likely discrimination.”

(https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/technology/china-surveillance-artificial-intelligence-racial-profiling.html)

[ii] البحر الرائق شرح كنز الدقائق، دار الكتاب الإسلامي, ج 8 ص 23

وَفِي شَرْحِ الْكَافِي وَلَا يَجُوزُ الْإِجَارَةُ عَلَى شَيْءٍ مِنْ الْغِنَاءِ وَاللَّهْوِ وَالنَّوْحِ وَالْمَزَامِيرِ وَالطَّبْلِ وَلَا عَلَى الْحِدَاءِ وَقِرَاءَةِ الشِّعْرِ وَلَا غَيْرِهِ وَلَا أَجْرَ فِي ذَلِكَ هَذَا فِي الطَّبْلِ إذَا كَانَ لِلَّهْوِ أَمَّا إذَا كَانَ لِغَيْرِهِ فَلَا بَأْسَ بِهِ كَطَبْلِ الْقِرَاءَةِ وَطَبْلِ الْعُرْسِ وَفِي الْأَجْنَاسِ وَلَا بَأْسَ أَنْ يَكُونَ لَيْلَةَ الْعُرْسِ دُفٌّ يُضْرَبُ بِهِ لِشُهْرَةِ الْعُرْسِ وَفِي الْوَلْوَالِجيَّةِ رَجُلٌ اسْتَأْجَرَ رَجُلًا لِيَضْرِبَ الطَّبْلَ إنْ كَانَ لِلَّهْوِ لَا يَجُوزُ وَإِنْ كَانَ لِلْغَزْوِ وَالْقَافِلَةِ يَجُوزُ.

جواھر الفقہ، مکتبہ دار العلوم کراچی، ج ۷ ص ۵۰۷۔۵۱۴

[iii] روح المعاني سورة الحجرات آية 10

والفاءُ في قَوْلِهِ تَعالى: ﴿فَأصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أخَوَيْكُمْ﴾ لِلْإيذانِ بِأنَّ الأُخُوَّةَ الدِّينِيَّةَ مُوجِبَةٌ لِلْإصْلاحِ

[iv] صحيح لمسلم، كتاب البر والصلة والآداب، باب تَحْرِيمِ الظُّلْمِ، 2580

[v] فتاوی محمودیہ، دار الافتاء جامعہ فاروقیہ کراچی، ج ۱۸ ص ۵۱۳