Tutoring platforms falsely claiming top students studied with them

A question about tutoring platforms falsely claiming top students studied with them, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that this is forbidden lying and deception, whether it comes from the students or the platform owners, and that the sin is greater when it is paid for. ¹

The questioner asked about tutoring platforms that, for commercial and advertising purposes, mislead students into thinking that certain top-scoring students studied with them. ¹

The Department answered that a Muslim must hold to truthfulness in word, deed and every circumstance, citing the verse commanding believers to be with the truthful in Surat al-Tawba 9:119. ¹ It said that lying and cheating to obtain worldly gain are among the gravest sins, relying on a hadith reported by al-Bukhari that whoever cheats is not one of us and on the verse commanding avoidance of false speech in Surat al-Hajj 22:30, and it counted money taken in return for false statements as forbidden gain (suht) and as consuming people's wealth wrongfully. ¹ It added that platform owners may not attribute to themselves what is not theirs, such as claiming a top student as one of their own when he is not, relying on the hadith of Asma bint Abi Bakr reported by al-Bukhari that one who boasts of what he was not given is like one wearing two garments of falsehood. ¹ It concluded that lying in media statements, and in every circumstance, is forbidden, whether by students or by platform owners, and that the sin is greater when it is done for payment. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 4180, dated 5 February 2026. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.