Q:

1. Is it makrooh tahreemi or makrooh tanzeehi to consume sand?
2. Will a person be sinful for consuming sand?

Q: We wish to get involved in the development of private cemeteries. We will not be involved directly in burials but only in purchasing and developing it to the required standards for Council to allow burials on it. Most of the burials done here will be for non-muslims. The norm now in South Africa is for individual burial plots to be leased to the family of the deceased for approximately 10 years or so and thereafter the plots are recycled. We wish to humbly enquire whether it is permissible for us to lease the plots and then after 10 years or so, lease it again to a different family. It must be known that the Municipality has stressed that due to the large shortage of burial sites, all burial plots must be recycled after 7 to 10 years. Each individual plot will be surveyed and marked out and will be leased to burial homes in order for them to facilitate burials. Which of the following would be permissible for us to do: 

1. Re-lease the plots after every 10 years
2. Lease it for 10 years and thereafter sell the cemetery outright
3. Sell the plots in perpetuity to the families of the deceased or the burial homes

Q: I would like to obtain an opinion as to whether the business process described below is permissible in terms of Shariah Law:

We regularly purchase stock from a supplier and pay cash upfront for all our stock purchases. The supplier gives us an early settlement discount for paying for stock purchases in cash. We then pass on the bulk of the early settlement discount to our distributors for them to make a profit when they on sell the stock to their customers. Up until this stage, the business process is no different to established trade practices which are permissible in terms of Shariah Law. To confirm, the business process up until this stage consists of two transactions.

Transaction 1 - We pay a discounted purchase price for stock.

Transaction 2 – We on sell stock to our network of wholesalers and pass the bulk of our discount from the supplier on to the wholesaler.

The next stage of the business process entails an entirely separate and 3rd transaction.

Transaction 3 - The supplier, after having passed the early settlement discount to us, deposits the  stock payment  received from us into an interest earning bank account. The supplier uses the interest earnings to recover the early settlement discount given to us for a cash purchase.

We would like to emphasise that the supplier deposits the stock payment received from us into an interest earning bank account after we have received the early settlement discount and after we have received stock we have purchased. The sale of stock by the supplier to us is therefore complete by the time the supplier deposits our money into an interest bearing account. Our question is whether the third transaction in any way affects the validity of transactions 1 and 2 in terms of Shariah Law?

Q: Is it permissible to apply for a bursary at a bank? E.g. Old Mutual.

Q: I would like to know from which point on the face should the beard be grown to a fist length. Example, should it start from the top of ear, or from under the earlobe, or mid ear etc. Also, is keeping the beard to a fist length fardh or sunnah?

Q: Is it permissible to have banks and ATM's as tenants. Is the money from earned/received from these tenants Halaal?

Q: I wish to inquire about the scalding process at the chicken factories. The slaughtered chickens are immersed whilst still bleeding with the intestines, impurities etc into a hot water tank for softening the feathers etc, this water is filthy and some of the impurities are possibly absorbed into the flesh. approx 500 to 700 birds at any point in time with all the impurities etc could be in this hot water at any point in time, where it remains for approx 5min. how does this process affect the status of the meat? does the meat remain halaal or does it become makrooh or haraam for Muslim consumption?

Q: I am an art student, am I allowed to draw figures like batman, judge dredd, Michael Jackson, etc whose eyes are covered by a mask or a hat? Can I draw the mouth, ears, nose, etc as long as I don't draw the eyes?

Is the probition in Islam only about drawing eyes? Am I allowed to draw skulls which have empty eye sockets?

Q: I work in a company that deals with architecture, construction, design of buildings, etc.

1. If the client who is not a Muslim, asks one to include a room for prayers in the plan, is it permissible?

2. Is a contract for a haraam business e.g. a night club, bar, etc. permissible?

3. If one is aware that the person is going to do haraam in the building, is it still permissible?

Q: Sending Baaligh Muslim girls to other schools for quizzes, science fairs, debates etc. with the school bus accompanied by female staff members.