Q: All praise be to Allah, we are young Muslim men from Egypt, but we live in the Netherlands. We want to ask about the Islamic ruling on the young Muslim men who resort to marrying European or foreign women who have permanent residence to obtain permanent residency in the Netherlands, even though this marriage is sham; it is only on paper. The man does not live with the woman nor does he have intimate relations with her as a wife. He just goes with her and two witnesses to the government office to conclude the marriage contract. Then, after that, each of them goes on their own way with the woman receiving a large sum of money. Is it permissible for a Muslim man to resort to this fraud to obtain residency, due to the bad economic circumstances that we are living under in Egypt? What is the ruling of the Shari‘ah (Islamic law) on the money that the woman receives for this? Please answer me and may Allah guide you to enlighten many young Muslims who face this problem.