Business and Dealings

Taking rent from a property that one had gifted to his children

Q: Please can you clarify the issue of gifts in the format of property.

A man in my city has divided 3 flats in the name of 6 children in his lifetime but the flats are in the name of 2 children۔ In addition, he still extracts rent from each flat. These 'gifts' are meant to be taken upon his death until which he continues to take until his demise. (ie avoiding laws of inheritance completely). 

He has 4 daughters and 2 sons. Is this jaiz? He is a nice man, but unfortunately this decision is more like a contractual gift, which may make him questionable on Judgement Day.

Kindly advise what is the truth. This conditional mentality regarding wealth pervades in certain communities here.

Withdrawing from a mandatory provident fund

Q: I am working in a company where we have a provident fund facility. I wanted to take some amount from my PF Account. In case of temporary withdrawal, the company will charge a certain % as loss of interest. Can I borrow this amount from my PF account? The purpose of borrowing is making investing in some areas.

Secondly, the company always gives interest on our PF balance on annual basis so would it be jaiz for us since this activity of fund and participating in fund is mandatory. The decision of investing PF fund is also with trustees of fund and not with us.

Practicing homeopathy

Q: I am a homoeopathic doctor and am planning to start my practice insha-Allah. However, I was reading something about Reiki and read that it is not allowed due to having shirk elements.

Now I have started wondering if homoeopathy has any haraam aspect of shirk. I haven’t come across any one who can do research and tell me. Homoeopathy has a concept of vital force in the body which is an energy. And the medicine has energy which acts on that force is the theory. I am fully of the idea that shifa comes from Allah alone. I want to help people and do my bit in helping others. Homoeopathy medicine works very well and I have experienced it for the last 6 years. However, I just want to know if it is allowed to practice it.

Accepting a different currency from a customer and exchanging it for a better rate later on

Q: I work at the airport at a car rental. Now if a customer comes and wants to pay in Euros but we accept only Dinars, to make his work easy I take the Euros from him at the current exchange rate at the airport knowing that the exchange rate will be better outside in the city. So I accept those Euros and use my Dinars to give to the company and later take those Euros and exchange it in the market at a better rate for myself or sometimes I wait for an even better rate. Is this money halaal? 

Working according to one's degree

Q: I am a doctor. I studied MBBS by choice and later done MD in medicine. My parents asked me my choice of doing MD medicine. I got MD medicine seat by giving money to management. My University is autonomous and have their own entrance exam. They only select students for particular degrees on the basis of donation money students have given them. Selection is not on merit. In similar way I got admission in MD medicine.

I was happy at first but later I had thoughts that it is non Islamic. I said to my parents that I want to quit as a lot of money for my degree was given so I was forced to complete my 3 years of residency in medicine.

Apart from religious thoughts, the reason for my wish to quit the degree was, I was unable to handle the pressure of continuous 48-72 hrs work. I came back home and was adamant for quitting my studies and stayed for about 9 months. This problem was taken before management and I was given concession of 12 hrs daily work.

In this way I completed my 3 years residency. Till then I was very depressed and was on antidepressants for nearly 2 years, and my wish to study further also vanished. I was given a passing degree without studying by giving money to management.

I feel I have knowledge more than MBBS but less than MD as I treated patients entirely over 3 years of residency. Is it halaal for me to continue my carrier in medicine as a job or as a private practitioner?

Kindly take note that I have a family with one child and I don't have any other qualifications for my survival. My parents don't want me to work as a MBBS doctor as my marriage was done by saying that I was doing MD medicine. If I do so, it is likely that it may cause a rift in my family. I'm not doing any job or earning since 2 years as I don't feel it halaal and my family and parents are not convinced on my job based on MBBS degree.