Interest and Gambling

Taking out a mortgage to purchase a home

Q: The question is: do we qualify to take up a new mortgage for a new home under the fatwa issued on mortgage for ONE house from the European council for fatwa and research?

The background is that we live in Norway and we own a house (apartment/ flat) of about 76 square meter equivalent to 820 square feet. Two thirds of the mortgage of the current house is paid of.

We have 3 children and we think that the house is too small for us. We are thus thinking of selling this one and taking up a new mortgage to buy a bigger (separate) new house.

As per the fatwa, it is allowed to buy/own ONE house with a bank mortgage. At the same time we don't wish to wage a war against Allah Ta'ala, as it is stated in the Holy Quran, about ribaa.

So do we qualify under this fatwa to do this? Shall we go ahead with our plan? 

Taking an interest bearing loan to buy a house

Q: I want to buy a house but I can't pay full, or get an Islamic mortgage because of my finacial situation. I am staying in a rented property, and now the time has come for me to get my son married and we need a bigger house. I wanted to rent a house, but the price is also high. I don't get a housing benefit. Can I buy a house with a non-Islamic mortgage and try my best to pay the mortgage as soon as I can?

Taking out medical insurance to do a liver transplant

Q: I currently live in Bangladesh. My father suffers from liver cirrhosis. I have plans to do Masters or PhD in USA. It is recommended for my father to do liver transplant but currently the liver transplant is not available in Bangladesh and in India it will cost 1-1.5 crore Bangladeshi Taka(currency), which is out of my reach.

When I start PhD in US, will it me permissible for me to buy an insurance for my father, take him to US and do the liver transplant and then send him back to Bangladesh? I cannot find any Takaful Health Insurance in US and don't know how the rest of the insurance work there.

Will it be permissible in a case like this? 

Winning a prize from a bank

Q: I have recently opened a bank account and the bank has a scheme for all its customers where one account number will be chosen in a lucky draw... The account holder will receive some price money.

There is no payment required to be a part of this lucky draw.

My question is, if someone wins the prize money... Is it halaal to use this money?

Entering the Albany bread competition

Q: Will the Albany bread competition below be permissible?

By purchasing four loaves of bread and sending through the unique codes (the codes are sent by SMS charged at 40c for every 20 sec), one will be eligible to receive a free loaf of bread. Together with this, one will be entered into a draw for other prizes. If a person enters with the intention of receiving the free loaf of bread only, will this then be permissible as the loaf of bread is a guaranteed prize?

Simply buy any 4 of our participating promo packs.

You’ll need to successfully collect 4 out of 4 unique codes in order to claim 1x free Albany loaf voucher.

How do you claim yours?

Buy 4 Albany loaves. Find the unique code in the pack. Dial *120*12214# and follow the prompts to enter your code. You’ll receive a wiCode SMS voucher to the value of R16,50. Each unique code entered is another chance to WIN R5000 cash daily and one of 1000 School Essentials vouchers valued at R200 each and one of 1000 more School Essentials vouchers. Once you have received your R16,50 wiCode SMS voucher, you’ll have 14 days to claim your free bread from participating outlets using your wiCode voucher. Every 4 codes entered is another chance to claim another FREE loaf of Albany Bread and every code entered is a chance to WIN daily R5000 cash daily.