Question
Reference number: 140823 | Miscellaneous | May 20, 2020
What is the ruling on cheating in exams by creating groups and making calls to answer together as long as these exams are online and we consider it as information exchange? If it is considered cheating, and thus, haram, should I tell our professor, or is it enough to repent and regret?
Answer
Praise Be to Allah and Peace Be Upon His Messenger.
According to your question, it seems that these exams are not considered to be open-book exams; thus, cheating in these exams is haram. It is not considered information exchange.
Regarding repentance, if you sincerely repent and regret doing that, Allah, hopefully, will accept it. However, you should regret cheating, and keep asking Allah to forgive you. You do not need to tell the professor about that since what you did is not like taking your professor’s right. In other words, if you take somebody’s rights, you should give these rights back. You behaved immorally during exams. Therefore, sincere repentance is enough.