Praise be to Allaah.

We put this question to Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen, may Allaah preserve him, with whom the following conversation took place:

Shaykh: “I think that he should sit a test, unless he cheated in a matter that has nothing to do with his work.”

Question: “Say this is a high-school student who falsified a degree certificate – four years’ study…?”

Shaykh: “What counts here is the last year in which the certificate is granted, so if we think that he cheated at every stage except the last, that is sufficient.”

- : “Meaning four years, then he did not cheat in the last semester?”

Shaykh: “Yes, the semester in which he was given the certificate.”

- : “But if the whole certificate – as he says in the question – was false, i.e., he didn’t study at university at all, or he majored in a different subject? For example, a person studied business and produced a false certificate in computers, and he did the work well – as stated in the question – he did the work well after that. So he did not cheat in the last semester but he did not study this specialty at all…”

Shaykh: “This is not permissible, but now – so long as he is doing his work well – he has to sit a test.”

- : “Of course the company has nothing to do with the university. Do you mean that he should leave his job?”

Shaykh: “He should leave his job, or if he is ready now he should sit a test, or if the company does not care whether he is a university graduate or not, he should still sit a test in the relevant subject.”

- : “So he should say to the company, ‘Give me a test’?”

Shaykh: “Yes, he can say, ‘I want to be sure of my abilities, can you arrange for me to sit a test?’”

- : “And not a university exam.”

Shaykh: “If they do not care if he is a university graduate or not.”

- : “But they originally set the condition that the job was for a university graduate who has a certificate in computers.”

Shaykh: “This means that there are two conditions, that he should be a university graduate and that he should have experience in computers. This means that he has to get a university degree.”

- : “So he has to tell them, 'I falsified my certificate. Either accept me now that I know the job well, or I shall leave.’ In other words, he has to tell them the truth.”

Shaykh: “Yes.”

And Allaah knows best.