Q: Is it permissible for Muslims to use the health benefits offered by the employer via an insurance company? The employees fill the forms of the insurance company and send them to the health department. Nothing extra (regarding health insurance) is deducted from my salary. My salary, as per contract, is fully provided to me. Is it permissible for me to use these health insurance benefits?
Q: I saw an add on Internet for sale of land. I wanted to buy that land but I didn't have enough money. So I contacted the bank and fixed the loan. As it was property of a private owner, so bank bought the property, paid amount to the seller and gave me loan. Land price was 100,000. I have 5 years loan period, amount of payment is fixed to 150,000 only if I pay within 5 years, above the principal amount 50,000 is interest (in bank's terms, because it is a conventional bank) but I considered it as I'm buying the property at a high price and amount of money is fixed at the beginning. I will pay this amount within that period if I don't bank will charge interest. Is this contract halaal?
Now after few months have past and i'm paying off that loan, I realised that I have made a mistake because first, I will not be able to pay off this loan within this period and secondly I think its not halaal. I have put this land for sale. I have in my mind that I'll do lots of istigfar and still begging Allah to forgive me. I have decided i'll never deal with conventional banks ever. Is it all right if i sell the property now? Where bank will not share in any loss or profit, rather it has some fixed fees it will charge for breaking the contract. Although, that land is not going to be sold in profit, may be equal to the same actual price of 100,000 or may be less than that. Whereas I have paid more than that amount in terms of lawers fee, council charges, bank fee and interest to bank (as I considered extra payment as high price). Was that contract halaal? Can I sell that property now? I had dream on two different nights that a storm in the ocean is approaching us. What does it mean? Is it related to the whole story?
Q: If a person has a disease such as HIV/AIDS and cannot afford the medication (1000$/month). Is it permissible to get insurance or use insurance benefits from work that one pays for in part?
Q: From Islamic point of view is it allowed to use the interest received on the money from a bank?
Q: I understand that we are not supposed to have medical aid however in the United States, the people who have low income, the government provides for them medical benefits, that is if a united state citizen who has no job or has a low income if he applies for medical aid then the Government will take it upon themselves to see to his physical and medicinal needs. So will it be permissible for a Muslim to apply for this type of medical aid?
Q: My question is regarding life insurance for about $300,000 in my name, after I die this money will go to my wife and child and they can buy a house and live a comfortable life. Please advise me on this?
Q: Is it haram if someone makes a contract and in the contract it says that they will give someone something for free, but it also says in the contract that if the person that gets the free thing breaks the terms and conditions of the contract or cancels once the free thing that is being given starts to be installed then they will be asked to pay for it and also if they break the contract and are asked to now pay for the free thing and they do not pay for the free thing when the money is asked from them then interest will be charged on the money they would owe? Is that a haram interest contract to ask someone to sign?
If it is, what should someone do with the money they have made and saved from doing a job that involved witnessing and asking others to sign up to a interest contract like this one? What should a person do if the company they worked for doing this for are due to pay him money from past contracts that the person signed others into?
Q: John's car collided with Zaid's car injuring Zaid. John's insurance company pays Zaid as compensation for his injuries. Is it permissible for Zaid to accept this payment and benefit from it -- keeping in mind that insurance companies make money through gambling and interest?
Q: I'm a 22 year old graduate student studying for my Master's in Physiology. I live in Cleveland, Ohio, USA and I was wondering if someone would be able to answer my question. I'm currently $124,000 in debt due to government loans, which charge interest. I was under the impression that under situations of necessity, the haram becomes halal, however I recently found out that the definition of "necessity" means life or death. I took out the loans so that I could complete my bachelor's and master's degrees. I'm planning on going to medical school in Fall 2014 and I will be required to take out even more loans (with interest). I found out that there's a military service program (HPSP - health professions scholarship program) for medical students in which the military will pay all tuition and fees, along with a monthly stipend, but will require 4 years of military service as payback. This will mean I will have to live without my family for months at a time. I'm planning on doing this program so that I do not have to take out further riba-based loans, and so that I can begin to pay off my current loan with my monthly stipend. However, there are other non-military programmes out there as well, but they will only forgive my loan after 10 years, which means I will be paying interest for at least 10 years. Also, there are some residency programmes that offer signing bonuses and partial loan forgiveness that might reduce the time required to pay off my debt to 3-5 years. Dropping out of medical school doesn't seem like a good option since I will end up paying the interest on my loan anyway. Any career besides medicine will most likely pay less, and thus take longer to pay off my loan (resulting in more interest). In the meantime, is there anything else I should do? I don't come from a wealthy family, and there are hardly any interest-free student loans offered for regular middle-class families. I guess, I can only keep asking for Allah's forgiveness and pray for a way out of this debt.
I'm sure there are many other Muslim students in America in my situation. I appreciate any answer.
Q: I have an account with absa and one with Standardbank. I receive interest from one account because of excess funds and from time to time I am charged interest from the the other bank. For example, this past few months, I received interest of R500 from Absa but I was charged to pay interest to Standard bank to an amount of R600. My question is: Can I offset it from the interest that I was given by another bank?