Ruling on building tourist resorts and taking part in that
Question

                What is the ruling on establishing a contracting company for building tourist resorts on the coast, where the visitors will be foreign tourists as well as locals, and in which there will be a lot of haraam things, such as nakedness, alcohol and immorality, and in which there will also be permissible things, such as supermarkets and medical clinics etc?.
Praise be to Allah.
    Allaah has forbidden people to disobey Him, and He has 
    forbidden them to co-operate in disobedience. Allaah says (interpretation of 
    the meaning):

    “Help you one another in Al‑Birr and At‑Taqwa (virtue, 
    righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and 
    transgression”

    [al-Maa’idah 5:2]

    These tourist resorts and villages -- unfortunately -- have 
    become venues for kaafirs and immoral people, who do not respect the sacred 
    limits of Allaah and have no fear of Him, and they do not venerate Allaah as 
    He deserves to be venerated. 

    In these resorts there is nakedness and places of 
    entertainment in which there is dancing, permissiveness, immorality, open 
    consumption of alcohol and, in some of them, there may be places for 
    gambling (casinos). 

    All of these are haraam things; indeed, they are major sins. 

    It is not permissible for the one who believes in Allaah and 
    the Last Day to do these things, and it is not permissible for him to take 
    part in them or to help those who are doing them. 

    All kinds of sins are committed in these resorts; the one who 
    built them or helps to establish them or helps to keep them running, has a 
    share of the sin involved. 

    Even the permissible places in them, such as medical clinics, 
    supermarkets, parking lots, laundromats and so on, are only built to make it 
    easier for the sinners to commit sin, so they are not free of sin either. 

    The scholars of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas 
    were asked: 

    I work for an Arab building and development company (private 
    sector). Currently the company is building a tourist resort called -----. It 
    is building villas, apartments and chalets. It is located on the coast on 
    the outskirts of -----. This resort has been built to be used as a summer 
    resort for local tourists. Please note that it is located in among other 
    similar resorts, or more correctly, the entire coastal region in ----- is 
    used as summer resorts. The people in our country who use these places in 
    the summer only do not adhere to sharee’ah at all, and immodesty is a deeply 
    rooted characteristic among them, to such an extent that they bathe in the 
    sea in what is called bathing suits, men and women alike. Please note that 
    the region of ----- is remote and the people there are more promiscuous and 
    more disobedient to Allaah the Lord of the Worlds. 

    My questions are: 

    1.What is the ruling on building 
    resorts or villages like this, as it has become very common.

    2.What is the ruling on those who 
    work for these companies? Please note that the company has other projects in 
    the country.

    3.What is the ruling on those who 
    work on the building site, whether as engineers, contractors or employees?

    4.What is the ruling on the 
    architects who design resorts such as these?

    They replied: 

    Firstly: if the situation is as described, it is haraam to 
    build these resorts, because that is enabling the evildoers to do evil, and 
    is cooperating with them in spreading it. 

    Secondly: it is not permissible for the Muslim to work for 
    these companies in building these houses or facilities, whether he is a 
    contractor, an engineer who is supervising the project, a designer, a 
    construction worker, a manager, or an accountant, and so on, because that is 
    cooperating in sin and transgression, and spreading evil and corruption. End 
    quote. 

    Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Razzaaq ‘Afeefi, Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Ghadyaan, Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Qa’ood.