Business and Dealings

Land expropriation

Q: My great grandfather had an estate in Durban from which they were forcefully evicted in 1972. My father also passed away in 1972. He was survived by his two brothers of which one passed away a few years ago. My paternal grandfather, who is now late, had many brothers and sisters of which two brothers and few sisters are living.

One of my paternal grandfather’s living brothers contacted the government some years ago to ask for compensation. The government sold this land recently for about 20 million Rands. The government decided to give us a gift of plus minus six million Rands in total, but did not know how to apportion it. They looked at the surviving sons and daughters of my great grandfather. In total, there are plus minus 34 shareholders.

In our scenario, my paternal grandmother is first in line since my paternal grandfather is late. She has one living son who is my father’s brother and no daughters. The government said that the money is a gift to all the living descendants of my great grandfather, but each one’s descendants should amicably agree to apportion their shares proportionately.

In my case, my father is survived by my mother, my brother and I. So, the government is giving about R200 000 each to my paternal grandmother, my father’s living brother and R200 000 to my mother, brother and myself and the last R200 000 to my father’s late brother’s family.

Initially, my father’s brother was not happy to give us the money saying that we do not inherit. However, due to pressure from all other shareholders, he decided to also make us party to the gift. Are we entitled to accept this gift from the government?

Forex trading

Q: Is forex trading halaal or haraam? While I use an interest free account, I use a swipe free and no commission account. My broker says its 100% according to Islamic Shariah. Kindly tell me about it in detail.

Who is liable for damages incurred at a carwash?

Q: I own a carwash where I employ staff to wash the cars of customers who come to get their cars cleaned.

I erected a sign informing the customers that neither my staff nor I will be held liable for any damage caused to their vehicles on my premises, and entry is at their own risk. Is this permissible?

After making this declaration, if one of my staff accidentally damages a customer's car, who is responsible?

Wakeel (agent) making improvements to item before selling it

Q: I earn a living by selling cars. I go to auctions and buy second-hand cars. Thereafter, I leave the car with a dealer who has a showroom. The dealer sells the car for me and we split the profit according to a pre-agreed percentage (e.g. 50% each).

Before selling the car, the dealer sometimes has some work done on the car such as repairing wind-screen chips, touching up the paint, changing the tyres, etc. The cost for this work is deducted from my share of the profit. Is this permissible?

Gifting a house to one’s children

Q: A person has a personal house that he wishes to gift to his three daughters. How should he complete the hibah (gifting) process, considering that the title deeds are in his name? If he does not transfer the house onto their name but merely gifts it to them in the presence of witnesses and has it duly signed as well, will this be sufficient? I was informed that the gifting will only take place if the house is divided and each daughter is given a separate portion of the house. Is this necessary or can I just gift the entire house to the three of them?