Interest and Gambling

Q: Is home insurance haraam? It does deal with interest, but so does car insurance.

Q: Regarding the diners card, which many people take out to get access to airport lounges across the world. The cost is R695 per year. According to the website: Airport lounge entrances are part of 15 complimentary visits, provided R12 000 spend is met on your account in the quarter of your visit. A quarter is defined as the calendar months between Jan - Mar, Apr - Jun, Jul - Sep, Oct - Dec. I know Mufti saheb has mentioned that all benefits from the bank are not permissible to use such as ebucks, FNB slow lounges etc,

1) Is it permissible to obtain and use such a credit card and the associated benefits and lounges? Provided one does not earn/pay interest, and keeps a positive balance on the card.

2) A person went for jamaat where a few sathies had this card. If a cardholder has guests that also want to enter the lounge, they can pay a fee of approx R250 and enter the lounge with the cardholder. So a sathie who is very strict not to use fnb slow lounges, ebucks etc was compelled to enter as the whole jamaat was agreed on entering and he didnt want to split the jamat. This R250 fee is especially for guests of cardholders and normal people wouldnt be able to enter. Is it permissible to pay the R250 (not being a cardholder) and enter the lounge and restaurant? If a person had done so, and Mufti sb views it as impermissible, what should he do to correct his mistake?

Q: I am very much in need of money. I have requested to my friends, family,and colleagues to lend me money but no body gives me. Now I have to pay my house rent and I have only one choice of credit card. Please let me know what to do to save my honour and respect in society. Can I avail the available choice.

Q: Pakistan is an Islamic state. I have invested some amount in government saving schemes. Although the rate of profit is fixed it is actually not because of inflation which may be more or less than the rate of profit. Besides, the actual value of my investment is going down each year due to devaluation being corresponding effect of inflation. Please guide me if the profit I receive on this investment is halaal.

Q: A Muslim entered his dog into a dog competition. Based on the gait, size, alertness, general health and so forth of the dog, the dog was placed in the top three of the competition - in light of the other entered dogs. The owner was awarded some physical items as prizes. This person has given me such prizes as a gift. (1) May I keep such gifts? (2) If not, to whom must I return the prizes: the winner, or the dog association that ran the competition?

Q: We live in South Africa and we want to know is medical aid permisible?

Q: You have a fatwa on your website that states using rewards from credit card companies is impermissible (ebucks); is using rewards from a departmental store the same thing if they give you 15% discount when you purchase their products on their credit card? Does it make a difference if the actual funding of the credit card is done through a separate financial institution?

Q: If a person pays for a flight overseas with his credit card, the bank provides free travel insurance. Will it be permissible to use a credit card (which he keeps in positive balance so as not to get involved in credit but to get a good credit record) to purchase his flight tickets with the card with the intention of getting the insurance? If not paying with the credit card he would have to use cash or a debit card anyway.

Q: I have an account in the bank. Yearly I get interest from the bank. Is it legal in Islamic law to earn interest from the bank?

Q: Can interest money be used to pay the import duty, taxes, anti-dumping (AD), and countervailing duties (CVD) which a government levies on imported goods?

Anti-Dumping Duties (AD): "A protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value...They come into play when a foreign company is selling an item significantly below the price at which it is being produced. The logic behind anti-dumping duties is to save domestic jobs, although critics argue that this leads to higher prices for domestic consumers and reduces the competitiveness of domestic companies producing similar goods." [http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/anti-dumping-duty.asp#ixzz3ZkRuXZqq]

Countervailing Duties (CVD): Countervailing duties (CVDs), also known as anti-subsidy duties, are trade import duties imposed under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules to neutralize the negative effects of subsidies. They are imposed after an investigation finds that a foreign country subsidizes its exports, injuring domestic producers in the importing country." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countervailing_duties]