Woman leaving her home to assist the elderly

Q: I'd like to find out if it is permissible for me as a lady to go out of my home and assist in a local care center for our Muslim mothers of our communities (they have no family to take care of them).

I always wear loose fitting clothing and make sure I am home by asr time if I do have to go out in necessity.

I have the skill of interacting and taking care of the elderly whether its family or not and love sitting with the elderly and listening to their advice and gaining some wisdom. I've been wanting to volunteer but am not sure what is the shariah ruling with regards to my intention of going out of my home to serve the elderly for the pleasure of Allah and giving back to community as many of our elderly ladies especially from Taleem always made the time to give me a good Tarbiyah as I grew into a lady that I am now.

And advice will be greatly appreciated and follwed Insha allah.

Shar’ee solution to medical aid schemes

Q: Based on the Sharee solution at the end of this answer: https://muftionline.co.za/node/30854 , if the money is paid to the hospital or doctor directly monthly, and after one or two months, a service needs to be rendered that exceeds the amount the customer/patient has paid the doctor or hospital to-date, will that also be regarded as interest, or will it be acceptable due to it being a service received and not money?

Agent taking a fee

Q: X company sells stationary items. They store their products in the warehouse of Y company. People buy the products through the website of Y company. Y company packs and delivers the products and takes the cash upon delivery. Then Y company gives the cash to the X company and Y company receives a certain fee. Is it permissible to buy products of X company through Y company?

Selling leftover hardware items purchased for a musjid

Q: There are a lot of hardware items at our Musjid that are stored away for future use if need arises. Over the years, whenever there is a building project, there is always "leftover items /material". These include bricks, sand cement, plumbing/electrical items... Some items are used, some are brand new and some cannot be used again for the purpose for which it was purchased, but may have some other benefits like "broken tiles" or a few odd colour tiles or broken doors etc.

1. What must be done with these if there is no use for them now and maybe even later on?

2. Can these items be sold to Musallees or any other person and those monies used for the Musjid maintenance?

3. Can the items that are of no use, be given away for free.

4. Amongst the items, sometimes there are some things like, a drill, long ladder, wheelbarrow, spades etc. A Musallee wants to borrow this item. Is this allowed?

Mudhaarabah contract according to Hanafi Fiqh

Q: Please comment on the following from Maliki Fiqh disallowing sleeping partners in an Islamic Contract.

Please give the Hanafi position with proofs.

The only formula for a silent investor is a business loan or Qirad. In a partnership all the partners have to work, they are all equally owners and therefore equally responsible.

I said: “What is your opinion of an arrangement in which I place a person in a stall and say to him: ‘I will accept the goods and you will do the work on the condition that whatever God grants us will be shared between us equally?’” He said: ”According to Malik, this is not permissible.” (Sahnun, Mudawwana, 12: 41).

I said: “What is your opinion of a partnership between three people in which one provides the millstone, the other the house, and the other the work-animal, on the condition that the owner of the animal does all the work?” He said: “The entire proceeds of the work are to go to the owner of the animal who executes the work, and he is obligated to pay the rental fee for the millstones and house.” I said: “Is this also the case even if he does not earn anything?” He said “Yes, even if he does not earn anything.”(Sahnun, Mudawwana, 12: 45).

Ibn Qasim rejects the validity of a partnership based in cash only which stipulates that all the work be done by only one of the partners. He explains his rejection as follows:

“The basis for this is that according to Malik, a partnership is not permissible unless they combine in its work proportionally to their respective shares in the joint capital.”(Sahnun, Mudawwana, 12: 60).

Wearing a soccer shirt with a cross symbol

Q: Please can you advise on the permissibility of wearing the England football shirt? Unfortunately many brothers have taken to not only wearing this, but also displaying the England flag on their houses during football matches. They also do this with the Union Jack flag during the Olympics/for celebration of the queens milestones (e.g. jubilee celebration).

The arguments put forth by these individuals are that the cross symbol is no longer solely representative of the Christian faith and identity as it is used more widely nowadays to represent other things and doesn’t just signify one is a Christian. As an example, they say that just because isis used the seal of the prophet Muhammad ﷺ does that mean everyone who uses the seal of the Prophet ﷺ follows isis? They also say that as wearing a necktie was once associated with the cross but no longer is today, in the same vein, wearing the St. George’s Cross of England flag no longer represents Christianity.

Please can you provide us with a clear cut answer as the brothers are unsure how to respond to some of these shubuhat.