Business and Dealings

Engineering of a temple

Q: 

1. A Muslim employee works for an engineering company, and the company is employed to do the engineering (beams, slabs, columns, foundations, etc.) for a temple. The Muslim employee is tasked with designing the structure by his boss. Is it permissible for him to do this?

2. Similarly, if a Muslim owns the engineering company and someone approaches him for this job, can he accept it?

3. What is the ruling if they are not involved in the actual temple, but are working on another building on the same land that has rooms, dormitories, toilets, etc. for the use of occupants of the temple?

Company offering a discount to sell items to clients

Q: I’m an architect. I design residential buildings for my clients and take design consultancy in return. Yesterday, a marketing team visited me. They were selling LED lights. A single light costs $10. They offered me a discount of 20% if I recommend the lights to my clients. They also said that if I sell the light at full price to my clients, they will transfer the remaining 20% discount into my account. If I give a 10% discount to my clients, they will transfer the remaining 10% into my account. Also, it is in my authority to give a full 20% discount to my client. Is this arrangement permissible?.

Handling wine in a supermarket

Q: I work in a supermarket where I have to handle alcohol products such as cases of wine, beer, etc. Sometimes, the products also break and leak onto our clothing. I have requested not to work in this area as I understand that handling and being involved in the transportation process of alcohol is forbidden according to the Hadith. The company requires some confirmation and clarification on this matter. I would be very grateful if you can clarify that this is haraam for a Muslim, as I need to prove to the company that I cannot work in such an area as a Muslim.

Selling soccer t-shirts

Q:

1. I want to sell t-shirts with different country flags on them for the upcoming Soccer World Cup. Will it be permissible to sell these t-shirts?

2. What is the ruling on advertising products with videos of people using them? Sometimes, products need a video demonstration or a photo to show how to properly use them. What is a permissible way to do this?

Asking the supplier for a discount due to late delivery

Q: I work as an engineer and my job requires me to get quotes for items we need to purchase. I agree to a quote based on the price and the delivery date. For example, if I need to buy piping, I will get three quotes.

1. Quote A says our price is $10 per foot and we will deliver by May 5

2. Quote B says our price is $5 per foot but we will deliver by May 16

3. Quote C says our price is $2 per foot but we will deliver by May 28

I select, for instance, Quote A, and the terms are agreed upon. Now, sometimes a company misses the agreed upon delivery date.  If they miss the date by 1 or 2 days, we don’t have any problems, but sometimes, they miss the delivery date by 2 weeks or more. In this case, we tell the company that we will not pay the full price and that they must discount the price that was initially agreed upon because they did not meet the agreed upon delivery date. Is this permissible?