Hiring and Renting

Q: A university requires some money for per-registering then it chooses the best among the candidates. Is it gambling? 

Q: My father in law owns a building, all the portions being given on rent. Though the land belongs to my husband but he is not given any amount nor has he ever demanded as he is having a good job and my father in law's only source of income is the rent from the building.

The rented places are.... A bank, an MRI CT scan service, a gym, a gents salon, a female beauty parlor, a tobacco shop, and an estate agency.

1. I want to know if the income in the form of renting to these places is permissible?

2. When we stay at our in laws, can we eat the food bought with the same money?

3. If one qurbaani share in a cow is purchased with the abovementioned income, will it have an effect on the other shares of qurbaani?

Q: I booked accommodation with a certain guesthouse for the March school break holidays which was originally from the 20th March until the 30th March for a total of 10 nights and payed a sum of R8500.

On the 15th March the President announced that we are facing a pandemic and was putting social distancing restrictions in place as well as non essential travel was to be cancelled. The next day I contacted the guesthouse to cancel my accommodation due to the presidents speech the night before. While negotiating the penalty for cancelation, the beaches were then also closed.

After much deliberation I was penalised 4 nights (40%) of my 10 night paid accommodation without a cash refund however a 6 nights credit for future stay. About 10 days later I was contacted for a refund to be processed. The amount refunded was 60% of what I paid (R5100) resulting in a 40% penalty as per above.

My question is, is it Islamically permissible for this penalty as this cancellation was due to the pandemic as declared by our President.

Q:

1. Often, when tenants vacate the premises, they leave items behind. Is the landlord entitled to sell these items and keep the money?

2. In the event of a tenant absconding while owing the landlord rentals and other ancillary charges, can the landlord sell these items to recover his money? Is it necessary for him to inform the tenant?

Q: I own a business that sells camping gear. Is it permissible for me to sell my products via amazon.com? The Amazon company will handle the shipping and everything else.

Q: Luqmaan owns a business. Over and above the fixed salary which he pays each worker every month, he also gives his workers a percentage-based commission for the sales they do. This commission is a bonus over and above their set salary which is given to them as an incentive for working harder. Is this permissible?

Q: Zaid let his house out to a non-Muslim. While residing in the house, the non-Muslim conducts his acts of worship. Will this invalidate the lease?

Q: We have been running a shop for the past 8 years. We have been paying a monthly rental subject to a 10% yearly increase. However, during the last year, after the increase, we have been paying say R10 000. Due to rising costs, etc. we decided to physically split the shop in half and give it to our neighbour for R9000. We had the permission of the landlord to do this. This effectively meant that we were now paying R1000 for our portion which is quite a bargain. However, now the landlord says that what we have done is not Shari’ah compliant. We would like to know whether it is permissible or not.

Q: Please advise whether it is permissible to buy a property on which any of the following tenants are found:

1. Non muslim homes

2. Supermarkets that sell haram products

3. Liquor stores

4. Gambling dens

5. Non muslim places of worship

6. Banks

Q: A person does sewing as a business.

1. Can they ask permission from their customers to throw away the very tiny scraps of their fabric. eg. from overlocking and trimming seams etc?

2. Is it okay if she notifies them afterwards that some of the scraps might have been thrown away or should she tell them from the beginning that its possible that some of their fabric/cotton(scraps and shards of fabric eg.from fraying/ cotton from unpicking when altering etc.) could possibly be thrown away or does she have to notify them at all as sewing usually does entail all these? (usually she tries to return everything but sometimes very tiny pieces remain so notify afterwards)

3. Does she have to decide for each customer, whether she will sew for them or not, from what they are wearing at that point or from what they seem to be from what they speak (if she doesnt know them personally) or if she knows them to be parda concious or not and then let them know whether she will sew for them or not, or will a clear notice that all outfits(i.e. which she sews atleast) should be worn in accordance to shariah, suffice? Please give any other advise which might also be important to take note of when doing business.