Q: Am I allowed to keep the soap, etc that I have taken from the hotel room in which I was staying. If no and it's not possible for me to return the item. What do I do?

Q: I have formed a company of programmers and developers to develop mobile games and applications. There are three sources of revenue:

1. Sell the game.

2. Make it free and gain revenue from advertisements in the applications and games.

3. Keep it partly free and partly under sale (in app purchases).

I have ensured that my apps and games will not contain anything vulgar or shameless. However, they will contain music. Is this permissible?

Q: Is it permissible to go on vacation with one’s wife/family to Non-Muslim countries as long as one still fulfil the requirements of being a Muslim
(i.e., praying, fasting, etc.)

Q: My mother has a heart problem. She currently has a mechanical valve (st Jude's metal valve) and the problem is she gets admitted into hospital every 2 weeks due to high blood levels and clotting of blood all over her body. The doctor said that if she replaces the mechanical valve with a pigs tissue valve she won't have that problem again. Is it permissible to use it for medical purposes?

Q: Is it wajib for old women to cover their faces (through niqab), or does this obligation only exist for young and middle-aged women?

Q: After shaving my private area there are very small cuts like little pricks. When I dab them with a tissue sometimes a little dot of blood appears and sometimes not. After making ghusl I apply oil to my body including private area I cannot be certain if it is bleeding after ghusl or not and if I have smeared the blood or not. Does it matter if it is smeared or not,the cut is like a prick of a pin and only a small dot of blood appears sometimes when I dab it.

Q: I'd like to ask about Bid'ah in general. I see that many Naqshandi sheikhs encourage the zikr with the jumping in a circle. Is this halaal or bid'ah?
I'm not a Naqshbandi but this topic came up in a debate with many friends as it is becoming prominent in Johannesburg already. I'm aware of the hadeeth where the Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) said every bidat is a deviation and every deviation leads to the fire, but a friend told me that Imam Shafi (Rahmatullahi Alayh) distinguished good bida'ah as good and bad bida'ah. I have never read or heard any of our shuyookh refer to that. I would sincerely appreciate your ruling on such a matter.

Q: When a man makes salam to a woman, should he say assalamu alykum or assalamu alyka?

Q: Me and my wife both are working and our assets are common e.g. we purchased property/Gold from common funds and we do not remember who paid more or less but we both are eligible to pay zakaat. So my question is in the above situation shall we calculate zakaat together or not. In the past we paid the zakaat together even though we didn't know if it is correct or not. Please guide accordingly.

Q: I would like to know what to do when I get my monthly period. For the first 2 or 3 days I get a coloured discharge 1 or 2 times a day thereafter I start bleeding for a few days. How do I calculate my period from the start of the bleeding or discharge. When I see the discharge must I perform salaah. If I see the discharge at one salaah time and for the next few salaah I don't see anything must I make wudhu and perform salaah?