Business and Dealings

Purchaser demanding more money when cancelling the sale

Q: We had a sale agreement for our property five years ago with a person for 8 million rupees. He paid 2 million rupees in advance, and he promised that he will settle the balance of 6 million rupees after 6 months and complete the registration. However, he was unable to arrange the remaining amount of 6 million rupees. Now we are planning to sell the property to some other person. Therefore, I need to return the 2 million rupees to the person, but since it's been 5 years, he is now demanding more money instead of 2 million rupees. Do we need to pay the extra money?

Early settlement discount

Q: We have an arrangement with our supplier to pay his account, 2.5% discount on the 30th following the month of our purchases. Is this shariah compliant? If not, please explain in detail how we can rectify this arrangement so that we still enjoy the benefit of the discount.

Dissolving a partnership with the condition of restraint of trade

Q: I have a few questions pertaining to the dissolvement of a partnership. Preamble relating to the questions:

In the year 2012 (July) I sold a 50% share of my business to my cousin. Alhamdulillah our partnership proved to be very beneficial to both of us. In the year 2020 (August) I requested a dissolvement of the partnership due to personal reasons. During the time of our partnership, we established 2 branches, JHB & DBN. At the time of dissolvement we agreed to the following:

1) I would take the Durban branch and he would take the JHB branch.

2) The Durban branch generates a lower turnover so we decided to split the areas that the JHB branch supplies.

3) JHB would keep the following provinces exclusive to itself i.e Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North West and Free State. Swaziland and Lesotho would also fall under the JHB client base.

4) The Durban branch would keep the KZN & EC provinces exclusive to itself.

5) Limpopo would be divided into the following category: All “Blue Chip” clients would remain under the JHB branch whilst all independent hardware stores would fall under my portfolio of clients.

6) Botswana as well as a certain single customer from the North West would also fall under my portfolio.

7) Our agreement on the areas and customers only pertain to products that were manufactured by us. For any additional products or new products, there is no restriction on either party. Each partner is free to trade in these new products with any client in any area.

8) The value of the business was restricted only to actual value i.e no goodwill figures or future earnings were added to the value. Stock was calculated at cost and equipment was calculated at an agreed percentage of depreciation. Alhamdulillah , the dissolvement has been very amicable thus far and we pray to Allah Ta'ala that we both maintain our respect and love for each other.

Question:

1) Whilst we have a gentleman’s agreement in place pertaining to the restraint of trade, is it allowed in Shari'ah law?

2) The restraint agreement only pertains to the life time of either partner. Is this permissible?
What happens if either partner decides to hand over the business to their children. Will this restraint still be allowed?

3) In the event that either partner sells his business/branch will the restraint still be allowed? 

Mother giving her house to her son while she was alive

Q: My mother passed away this year and left behind her house which she gave to me while she was alive (verbally) and at that time, it was accepted by my siblings, now after my mother's death, they have changed their attitude and claimed their right of inheritance.

1. Is their claim valid?

2. My eldest sister is living in the house as her house is being renovated. Should she be paying rent?

3. The property collects rent which they have been collecting and I have requested my share in the rental, is that correct?

4. Can I be denied my right of inheritance because certain family members dislike me?

5. My father passed away when I was 6. He left a Kruger coin for me which I left with my mother, after her death, my sister is denying it to me and says that my mother left it for my sons, is this correct?

Working while on a visit visa

Q: It has been 4 months since I came to Saudi Arabia on a visit visa. There is a man known to my father who has a business. He gave me a job in his business because he knew my father. Now the main thing is, is it halal for me to get this job on a visit visa? Because, I did not come here for work. And I'm working under the guise of the Saudi government. So is it halal for me to work? Or is it forbidden?

Designing software for a delivery company

Q: I’m a software engineer currently working and residing in a Muslim majority country. I have a stable job but got a very good job offer from a delivery company in Europe. As part of the that company, I will be building web platforms that customers can use to order food, groceries, game tickets etc. The company partners with restaurants & supermarkets to deliver food and goods which can very well include pork and alcohol and the company takes the delivery fee and a comission.

The company also has a courier delivery and ticket delivery wing and I could be assigned to work on any of the particular service.

Although my job does not include direct contact with haram items, but it could be used either to order simple groceries or to order wine. There is no specific information about what share of the company’s business involves delivering alcoholic products or pork.

Is it permissible for me to take that job? Should I just stay away from it or join the company and see how close I am to building the tech which customers are going to be using for ordering haram items?