Business and Dealings

Selling medicine to those who use it for haraam

3 days ago By user2

Q: I am buying a pharmacy and am bringing in a colleague to work under me who specializes in increasing revenue. 

One of the ways he increases revenue is by selling codeine in bulk to a drug dealer at high prices who sells it on to addicts. My feeling is that this is haraam as its being sold to a haraam business who is then selling it to people to do haraam which causes suffering in the community. 

He also has contacts where he can sell the codeine in bulk to other pharmacies who may be selling it to drug addicts but we cannot verify this suspicion. Is this haraam? 

According to South African law, there is a quota of how much you can buy and sell in bulk because it is known to be an abused medicine but we cannot always verify what the intention is when selling large volumes to patients. 

I would truly value you advise on this.

Customer demanding a refund since a lower price is available on the market

3 days ago By user2

Q: We supplied stock to Muslim owned wholesaler. This is how the transaction went: 

We quoted a price. The buyer was happy and they placed an order of 10 pallets of stock. We arranged the stock, invoice it and supplied it without any problem. 14 days later the client paid. There was no defect in the product. 2 weeks after they paid, the price of this product dropped in the market, so that is nearly 30 days after they placed the order. 

The item sells at R27 and we supplied it to him at R22. Two weeks after he had it on his floor and the price dropped, he contacted us to say that he can get it at R19. 00 and we must pick up the stock or exchange it for another item with a good price. 

What am I allowed to do it the sharia regarding this situation? 

I did say I can drop this price abit and refund you a R2 but he did not sound happy. This will also put me in a problem as now I have to go and collect the stock at my cost and my profit margin was low when doing this deal. 

As a Muslim business man, is he allowed to instruct me to pick up my stock according to how the transaction took place and refund him or send him other stock for that value. What if I don't have a good deal for him at this moment?

Landlord charging the tenant more than what was agreed upon

4 days ago By user2

Q: I started renting at new place last year in March. The warehouse was owned by the same people where I was renting before. The agreement when we moved to the new warehouse was R23 000 plus electricity usage. After moving at the end of the year, the landlord sends a big bill with a whole lot of extra charges that were not agreed upon 

Example, R2000 per month for security and he says these amounts were supposed to be understood. There were few more charges like security that were just added in and sent at the end of the year 

1. Am I liable to pay those amounts that weren't agreed upon? 

2. Is the money halaal for him if he demands it? 

3. Can I use interest money to pay him?

Landlord charging the tenant a fixed fee for electricity

2 weeks ago By user2

Q: 

1. There are three prepaid meters for electricity, installed on a property, the administration cost is for the landlords account. 

Must the VAT cost also be carried by the landlord on the three meters? 

2. A landlord charges seperate for the electricity for example rental is R6000 per month and he charges an average R1500 for electricity some months the electricity bill comes to a lower fee some months especially in winter the charges are far higher then R1500. 

There are three houses on one property, one of the houses the landlord uses for himself. The electricity bill comes out on an average R5000 to R5500 per month. There is only one meter on the property. How does one calculate what each house is using as there is no way to find out what the exact charges are for each house. According to the shariah is this acceptable?

Working in a supermarket as one who picks and moves goods

2 weeks ago By user2

Q: I would like to request a ruling according to the Hanafi madhhab regarding a student job at an ALDI supermarket distribution warehouse in Germany. 

My main assignment involves picking fruit, bread, flowers and other ordinary goods. However, employees may occasionally be reassigned to a chilled warehouse area containing chicken and pork products, for example when colleagues are absent or another department needs assistance. My employer has explained that they cannot guarantee that I will never be assigned to this area, although most of my work is expected to involve ordinary goods. 

The work is performed using a voice-picking system. I receive instructions to pick specific products and quantities, place them on a pallet, attach a label and move the completed pallet to a designated dispatch area. I do not sell the goods, interact with customers, receive deliveries or load the trucks myself. 

According to the Hanafi madhhab, is it permissible for me to accept and continue this employment, and is my salary halal if I occasionally have to pick and palletise pork products as part of an otherwise predominantly permissible job?

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