Trade

Purchasing a soft copy of a document

Q: I wish to purchase a set of notes from a company. Once I make payment via EFT, they will send me these notes via email. There is thus no physical product being exchanged, or the ability for me to 'return' anything. The notes are just a document made on Microsoft Word. Is it permissible for one to buy and sell 'soft copies' in this manner?

Using a credit card

Q: I have some money invested that are easily redeemable and have a credit card as well. When I become cash strapped I resort to the Credit card due to ease of access and I always try to pay up the debt on the credit card within 55 days as before this no interest is charged, however, buying/relying on this facility makes me feel impoverished and fearful of consuming things that I can pay for later. I am fearful. What do you advise me to do? Use the credit card and ensure that I always pay for the debt within the non-interest period or rather use off my saved money?

The ruling pertaining to things which are halaal and haraam

Q: Please advise if the sale of the following is permissible and the income halaal:

(1) Secular textbooks on topics like engineering, mathematics, architecture, business, pharmacy, fitness etc. that contain animate images. Sometimes the satr of men and women may be exposed in these images. I do not have the ability to note the nature of every image in these textbooks.

(2) General 'Non-Muslim' clothing, like jeans, T-shirts, skirts, shorts, swim wear, colourful male clothing, high heel shoes, general tight-fitting clothing etc. If some of these items are to be worn as non-Muslims generally do, then the satr will naturally be exposed.

(3) Clothing that has animate images.

(4) Clothing with large textual inscriptions and logos.

(5) Male and female underwear. Not lingerie. (6) Rings and jewellery that are impermissible to wear (like imitation rings).

(7) General permissible items that have animate images on them. For example, some cell phone cases, branded stationery items, children hand watches.

(8) Teddy bears, toys with animate images, figurines etc.

(9) To sell medicine containing (intoxicating) alcohol when suitable alternatives exist.

I currently own the following and want to know if they can be sold, or whether they should be destroyed:

(10) Comic books that consist almost entirely of animate images. The satr of the comic characters are sometimes exposed.

(11) A PlayStation 2 video game console. It has multiple uses and not just for playing haraam video games.

[I do not know if my customers are Muslim or Non-Muslim.]

Online shopping

Q: What is the ruling on buying products online where one only sees the picture of the product? Also will it be permissible to sell one's products online through a website or Gumtree and OLX classifieds and what conditions will one have to adhere to to make the sale permissible?