Diving in Islam

Q: Is diving permissible in Islam? If one goes diving with the intention of fulfilling the sunnah of swimming, will this be allowed?

Someone told me that it is impermissible because there is fire under the ocean according to a Hadith. If that is the case then how did the Sahaabah learn how to swim since they did not have swimming pools like how we have today?

Postponing marriage due to health issues

Q: Islam tells us to marry when a boy or girl becomes mature, age 12-13. But according to science, if a girl marries at 12-13 and becomes pregnant then she has to face problems like losing the new born baby, decrease in her growth of height, sugar problems, high BP, etc .

So in these cases, can we delay the marriage till the girl or boy is 19 years?

In previous days, in the 18th century and before that, did it also happen that they used to marry young and these problems had taken place (decrease in height, high BP, high sugar, risk of death, etc.).

UCount Rewards

Q: I currently Bank with Standard Bank. I read Mufti saheb’s fatwa regarding UCount rewards and have since abstained Alhamdulillah. I informed my parents as well, however, they received the following explanation from the Mufti that advises the bank:

“With reference to the rewards programmes of the different banks and the opinion of the Mufti: The Shari’ah Advisory Committee of Standard Bank have reviewed the uCount programme of Standard Bank and have confirmed that the concept and structure conforms to the requirements of Shari’ah. The Mufti draws his conclusion from the understanding that rewards are issued against a loan advanced which is an incorrect understanding of the programme. We agree that a deposit in a bank that is not structured in a Shari’ah manner is a loan to the bank. We however do not agree that rewards are earned based on the deposit/loan to the bank; hence the reward is interest. If the understanding of the Mufti was correct, it would mean that clients with the largest deposits would earn the highest rewards, which is not the case. Rewards are earned based on the usage of the card. The usage of the card is an independent transaction which attracts a separate fee (noted as point of sale fees in the Muftis response) and is not linked to the deposit.

The same would apply when using a credit card, rewards are earned based on the usage of the card and not the amount used There are also other factors that determine how and why rewards are earned. Point no.3 above relates to the primary consideration and not the only consideration.”

Please can Mufti saheb offer some clarification so I can explain to my parents regarding the impermissibility of UCounts.

Marrying a pregnant woman

Q:

1. If a female conceived a baby from her illegal relationship before nikaah and married the same male afterwards, will the nikaah be valid one?

Does it have to be repeated?

2. If the conceived female married another male instead of the actual father of the fetus (hiding the matter), will the nikaah with the pregnant female be valid?