Permissible and impermissible items of trade

Purchasing from Hindus

Q: I live in India and here Hindus have very different traditions like in front of the shops they smash some kind of fruits and lemons and coconuts and keep them at the corners of the entrance. So my question is am I allowed to go inside that shop and am I allowed to buy food products from that shop and I have also seen that shop has pictures of their idols and they do pooja over there. So sometimes used to eat from that shop. Was that haram and najis?

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?

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.]

Encouraging customer to take finance

Q: I want to sell my car and I know that in most cases, people will not be able to buy it cash. I know a car dealer who arranges finance from the bank for customers. Can I advertise the car and say that finance can be arranged, and when a customer comes to me, I will send him to the car dealer who I know will assist him with the finance? Will this be permissible?

Selling novels

Q: We have a bookshop selling Urdu and international novels. As you know there is romance in every novel. I want to know whether it is permissible to sell novels or not in Islam. Kindly reply in accordance with Qur'an and Ahaadith or some early scholars.

Selling computer training videos

Q: I would like to know if its permissible to sell computer based training (e.g. video training for microsoft word etc). It is not software, but videos that teach an individual how to work with that software. However it may have copyrights by an international company. It is not sold in south africa because it is very very expensive eg. R3000 and as you know education is expensive here. My main aim is to sell it to those who can't afford training and to help overcome south africas skills problem by educating people. The price I'll be selling will be close to nothing eg R80. The profit is for my time taken. I would like to know if this is permissible even if I do it without the companies permission. I obtained the material for free. All I'm doing is making copies and distributing it.