Business and Dealings

Muraabahah

Q: I am from India. Here car loans (financing) is available in such a way that banks will pay the complete amount to the car dealers not to us. Is it lawful to finance a car from the bank? If the car original price is four lakhs and the bank earned the profit and fixed the amount to 5 lakhs, and I am told to pay this 5 lakhs in instalments (partly) of 36 months in equal amount. Please tell me, is this scheme valid according to Shariah? Does it come under muraabahah? If the car dealers itself has a financing company, is it permissible in this case also?

Government assistance

Q: I was legitimately claiming help with medical costs from the UK government for years. They assess whether you are eligible, by asking for details about your income and savings. Then in 2017 my father deposited some money in my account, and told me it is for his future investment. It wasn't my savings. In order to cover up this money, I lied when asked about my savings. I received help as usual, for two years in which I told untruths to the government. Now Allah has shown me the error of my ways. I understand lying is deplorable and I am feeling full guilt for claiming in an unlawful way. It does say that claiming wrongly can earn a penalty, so i fear that my lies mean I owe them money. Rest assured, however, I was still eligible for help with costs as my real circumstances hadn't changed. My question is: do I have to pay back the medical costs? I don't have the money to pay all of those costs I claimed help with. Yet I'm afraid this counts as debt and I won't get into jannah.

Bank reimbursing a service fee

Q: A bank in the US is offering an automatic reimbursement of foreign ATM fees on their checking account. **The reimbursement is in the form of cash, deposited directly into the client's bank account.** Would it be permissible to accept the reimbursement, given that the bank also earns from mortgage interest from people who take mortgages from the bank?

I ask because services such as deals and discounts on 3rd party products through the bank are considered haram. However, in this case, the bank itself is providing reimbursement of fee for a service that is typically charged by other banks.

Accepting a gift from the father of a thief

Q: An antique was gifted to us by the father of a friend who later was revealed to be a crook. He cheated us out of business and various mechanisms. We were unaware at the time he was an employee. This antique was gifted to us by the father of the crook who does not have good relations with his son who has gone astray. It is fully certified and carries the paperwork of authentication at Ministry of Tourism level. Hence our confusion and 2 scenarios:

1. Is it permissible to sell this antique and use the money for ourselves, since it was from the father and not from the son? Is it jaiz to assume a father might be like his son, the warning of making lawful things prohibited as in Surah Tahrim comes to mind. As well as the warning of acting on unfound suspicion as in Surah Hujarat. The father could be completely innocent.

2. If it is not permissible to use the money from the sale of the antique out of suspicion and caution, its not pure enough for sadqah either. Can it be used to pay off debts incurred by the scheming of this ex-employee? Kindly advise what to do with the money once the antique is sold. How may it be spent?

Doing personal work during work hours

Q: I want to ask question about the personal work on job timings.

I have been working in a university as a software developer. During the job timing I'm working on my own work. Because the total university work that I got takes me only 2-3 days. The rest of the month I am free.

Can you please tell me the work that I have done during my job timing is haraam or halaal?