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Fatwa CenterCheating in high school diploma test
Question
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu. Excuse me, my name is Yoga. I have some questions. I am sorry if my English is bad. Firstly, I graduated from my senior high school, but I cheated on the exam, and now I am on college with a test, and I have not cheated on the test. Can I still use my diploma certificate to get work in the future? Will my salary from it be halal or haram? Thank you very much. The second question is this: if I am using a laptop at university while charging my laptop and using the internet connection to make some design and sell it, is the payment from the design that I sold also haram? Thank you. Wassalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Cheating in exams is absolutely prohibited, as the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, “The one who cheats is not one of us.” [Muslim] You did well by regretting your cheating in the exam, and whoever repents to Allah of his sin, Allah forgives him. This does not affect the validity of your degree or future work as long as you do your job as required. Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen 
wrote, “The criterion in this regard is the last year; if the student cheats on all the exams, for instance, except the final ones (graduation year), then this is sufficient in this regard.”
Please, refer to fatwa 181421. Accordingly, there is no harm on you in benefiting from this diploma and using it to apply for work.
As for using the internet service at the university, this requires knowing some details. If the internet service is public and the students are permitted to use it, there is no harm on you in using it for the purpose which you mentioned. But if the internet connection is private and the university does not permit students or others to use it without a special permission, it is impermissible for you to use it and you should refrain from doing this and seek the pardon of the concerned authority regarding the unauthorized usage of the service.
In any case, you are allowed to benefit of what you had earned from your designs (the payment you received for them is not haraam).
Allah knows best.
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