Q: Can I keep an an owl as a pet? What does shariat say about it?

Q: Are we allowed to make dua for non Muslims? For example, when speaking to nurses/cashiers and if they did us a favour can we say God bless you?

Q: Is OK for the bride to enter the groom's house for the first time on a Tuesday after nikaah?

Q: Is it permissible to use pig dung as a fertilizer for soil to plant?

Q: In the case of this war and crisis in Palestine, if a person wants to give Zakaat in a place like Gaza, will it still be necessary for the person to check if the recipient of the Zakaat is a Muslim or a person can give the Zakaat to anyone in need? Please advise.

Q: What is the stance of Shariah about Meezan bank in Pakistan? Is it permissible to keep money in it and receive monthly profit?

Q:

1. Is a Muslim sinful staying under a democracy in South Africa which promotes so much of wrong and atrocities against Deen and Allah?

2. What is the verdict of democracy in the light of Quraan and Sunnah?

3. Should Muslims speak out against the harms of democracy. If so then how?

4. Allah says in the Quraan that complete authority is only for Allah so is it permissible for us to keep quiet against democracy which promotes man's laws and man created legislation?

5. In countries like Pakistan who have permitted riba which is directly against the commands of Allah, is that equal to Kufr?

6. The people of democracy such as NATO want the restriction of Islam. They don't mind if Muslims are living but the moment someone speaks about establishing Islam then they are physically prepared to wage war with them as we have seen in Afghanistan. Hence, is democracy considered as a tool of Shaytaan considering the fact they don't want Islam to spread? Afghanistan has attempted to establish Islam and when America lost the war, they began placing restrictions and sanctions.

7. We are living in a democracy, should we be speaking about the harms of it? If yes, please advise how should we speak out against it?

8. Which books and resources can we refer to, to speak against democracy.

Q: There's a trend among large retailers of using a marketing strategy called odd pricing, eg. $4.99, instead of $5. This is based on the psychological trickery of making a price more appealing. Muslim informal traders have now adopted this same strategy.

Firstly: Is this allowed, considering the origin and deceitful nature.

Secondly: These Muslim traders accept the full amount of $5. Unlike the large retailers, who give your change, the Muslim traders offer no change to the customer. This price is sometimes $199, and when accepting $200, no change is offered. Is this permissible? Surely, this is a form of stealing. At the very least, trickery.

When called out, they offer 'Urf as an excuse, saying this is the general usage in a community. However, the retailers who use this strategy gives the customer his due change. So it does not equate to the same.

Q: I have a question regarding the trimming and cutting of trees. I live in an apartment building which has a few large trees on the property.

Is it advisable to significantly trim a large tree (which will decrease it's size significantly but alleviate the inconvenience caused by the tree to flat owners)?

Is it advisable to significantly trim a large tree (which will decrease it's size significantly in order to decrease maintenance costs associated with looking after the tree)?

Is it advisable to cut down a large tree to make way for additional parking?

Is it advisable to cut down a large tree in order to decrease maintenance costs?

Q: A family will be going to perform hajj from Pakistan. They will do qurbani for the hajj in sha Allah. Do they need to perform another qurbani that all other Muslims perform on eid?