Q: I have selected a name for my daughter, "Mirha" (مرہا). Can you please explain the meaning of it with some reference?

Q: I work for a wholesaler and my daily tasks are many. I open the store and then I do daily counts of airtime. I am the cashier, take phone calls, take phone orders, respond to WhatsApp messages and orders. I also pay suppliers and buy stock when needed. I have to cash up customers and give them airtime and cigarettes.

I have to phone the boss while there are queues of people to get special pricing for each item for all the big customers. When I make a payout for either a payment to a supplier or buying items, I have to make a note in a book. I must also make a note in a seperate book for COD customers. While doing all this, sometimes the boss will ask for money. Since he wants the money immediately and I am very busy, I don’t always get a chance to make a note of the money he takes.

When cash up is done, there are some occasions where there are shortages, etc. Most of the time, it is found that something wasn’t noted down in the rush. There are cameras overhead which see that I don’t steal anything, and because of the rushed pace of everything, it’s not due to negligence on my part.

According to Shari’ah, is it permissible for my boss to ask me to pay for the shortages that can’t be traced and hold me responsible for it?

Q: I own a jewellery store. We offer our customers a 'trade-in' service where they bring their old jewellery to us, we evaluate it and determine its worth, and then the customer takes jewellery of their choice to the value of the jewellery that was traded-in.

Is it correct to deal in this manner? If not, how should we conduct the deal?

Q: I am an oncologist (cancer specialist). I often have a situation where a patient comes to me in the advanced stages of cancer. According to my experience and knowledge, such a patient may have the life expectancy of only three months (for example).

Ethically, I am bound to inform the patient or their family of the situation. If I do not do so, I can be held liable for not informing them of the seriousness of the situation. However, I understand that this is against the Islamic teaching of giving hope to the patient and not causing them distress and anxiety. Furthermore, there have been certain cases, against the norm, where patients have ‘pulled through’ and surpassed the life expectancy period.

Nevertheless, I sometimes feel that it may be beneficial to indirectly indicate to the patient that their end may be near, as it will prompt them to set their affairs in order before passing away.

What is the correct understanding in this regard?

Q:

1. Is the earning from takaaful insurance clearly stated as haraam?

2. If such a person invites a friend for a dinner party at his home, will it be halaal for him to consume such type of food?

Q: I am a doctor and my patients, by and large, are contracted to medical aid. I encounter the following issues with my patients:

1. A patient is not sick and does not require any treatment. They ask me to give them cash (e.g. R500) and bill their medical aid for R500 by making out a fake visit with consultation and medication to the value of R500. The patients insist that since they are paying the medical aid on a monthly basis, and they are not claiming for treatment every month, they are entitled to do this to recover their money.

2. A patient brings a friend or relative to me. The patient has medical aid, but the person that they brought is not contracted to any medical aid. The patient asks me to treat this person, but bill their medical aid by filling in their details instead of the actual patient's details.

In the above two cases, is it permissible for me to do as the patient asks?

Q: If a person’s father passed away before his grandmother (i.e. Father’s mother) and the grandmother was inheriting from her grandmother will the grandsons inherit from the grandmothers estate while they are other brothers and sister of the father still living?

Q: In previous Ramzan my fast was broken due to my mistake. It was not due to intercourse because I am not married. Kindly tell me the repentence of it. Do I have to provide food to some people which is specified by Islam or is it allowed to provide charity to a deserving organization as repentence?

Q: Ebrahim and Qassim are brothers. They were married to two sisters. Ebrahim had a son, Ismail who got married to his cousin, Khadijah (Qassim’s daughter). They had 8 children. Ismail, the father passed away a long time ago. Thereafter 3 of the children, Omar, Husain and Zahra passed away before their mother. Now their mother passed away.

My question is, can the children of Omar, Husain and Zahra inherit from their grandmother? If they are not intitled to the inheritance, can they get anything via any other way since they looked after her quite a bit.

Q: If a person arrives late for salaah and notices that the saff of the children is going to join up with the sufoof of the adults, should he move the children to the back?