Business and Dealings

Q: Is an income benefit/provider insurance policy allowed whereby one will receive an income if disabled and cannot work. At the age of retirement the policy will lapse with no benefit.

Q: I purchased 3 abayas from a lady online. All 3 turned out short even after giving measurements. She tried to fix them but changed the look of the abaya I ordered (it does not look like the original picture). When I received it, they were dumped in a bag. When I called her to say its a slim fit and short and I cannot wear it like this, she asked where her abayas were, to which she responded "oh god". She said her abayas are tailored so it will seem short irrespect of my size, so couldn't she inform me of this? So I could then say... make it bigger, looser and longer as I am in niqaab and cannot leave the house with immodest abayas. She then says why I didn't tell her I'm in niqaab. Being in niqaab or not doesn't matter when purchasing an abaya. I want to send them back to her but she is ignoring me and my messages and refuses to send me her address. The abayas cost R3049 and she doesn't seem bothered that her customer isn't happy. I mentioned that I'm not asking for a refund but that she takes the abayas back and give me the correct sizes but she refuses. Please advise going forward as I havent been rude to her at all but shes been abrupt and not accommodating.

Q: I am currently employed by taking ID photos of people that want to make ID documents or want to renew their drivers licence. Am I commiting a sin? I have no other work to support myself or my family. Currently there is a demand for ID photos in my town. Even Muslim people come to me for photos for passports. Please advice me. 

Q: An online store offers a discount, say 10%, if the buyer pays using a credit card. The discount is not available if the buyer pays using other means such as a debit card. Following are the questions:

1. Is it jaiz to avail this discount?

2. If it is not jaiz to avail this discount then what should the buyer do in case he has already availed this discount in the past?

3. If the only mode of payment offered by the store is credit card and a discount is being offered on a specific card, say VISA, then will it be jaiz to make payment using this credit card?

Q: I rent out cars to tourists and sometimes while doing currency conversion, I take lesser than the agreed price as they don't have change or coins are not available. I take lesser to be on the safe side and not taking more as I may be sinning. Is the way I proceed OK?

Q: I want to ask regarding spending money found from some illegal way.

Q: My dad died on 10th September due to cancer. After his death, many people came with bills that he had debts. I am his only daughter so how can I pay all this debt and what should I do to pay this debt. Can we use interest money to pay the debt to non-Muslims. 

Q: I want to apply to study in Canada and for this purpose I need a GIC certificate. A GIC is an account which I will open in a Canadian bank to show that I can bear their living expenses. When I go to Canada, they will refund me my funds within a given period of time along with interest. As a Muslim, interest is completely prohibited in Islam. What should I do?

Q: My bank credits me every quarterly with interest money in my account. What can I do with this amount? Can I donate it to any Islamic madrasa? If not, can you please tell me about this issue.

Q: I have a trading firm in which we do billing for the government sectors for their purchases. We charge 1% for the work. Suppose if a person wants billing for 100000 then we charge 1000, which is insufficient for our firm. These people never pay us more than 1%. Most of the people do not even pay this 1%. Despite this, they give us 17% which we have to pay to the government as tax amount.

Because we cannot fulfill our expenses in that 1% which most of the people dont even pay, we utilize this 17% and dont pay to the government and provide the clients with fake receipts upon which there is no check and balance. So by doing this we get 17000 from 100000 billing. The clients just want the receipts and they have no problem whether we pay their tax to government or not. They just take the fake receipts and go. Every trader who runs firms like this, dont pay the tax and consume it. Even the clients think that these traders dont pay the tax but they have no problem with this.

Now I want to ask you that if we do not pay this tax amount and we provide people with fake receipts, is my earning totally haram? I have no other business option apart from this. We lie to customes also that your tax is paid by giving them the fake receipts. My heart is not satisfied from this earning but I dont have any other business option. Kindly guide me what should i do? Can i continue like this because everybody else who is running this business do the exact same thing. Clients dont give the commission and thats why we consume the tax amount as our earning.