Q: My father was a hardworking man all of his life. Due to poverty in his homeland he went to a European country and worked there in a factory for 25 years. Never being dependent on any government help system. I have a few questions on what he did and would like to get answers from you about that so I can help my father by any means.

1. He took a few times loan from banks in order for his brother or his father and paid interest on it in order to get forgiven does he have to give the equal amount of money of the interest to a charity or to people for charity?

2. He got laid down from his job in 2008 and got dependent on government help system that is they paid him on a monthly basis. He could work a little but he had back pain but anyhow as he was old he did not get any job anywhere else. As we did not have any money our father was in Europe and we here in Pakistan, we were in a tight spot. Here was a chance our father could be gone into the disabled program that is the government gives the money to people who can’t work and they give it to his family as well.

We did many khatams and dua for this but every time when we made dua we asked ALLAH if its halal give it to us and if not then don’t.

What happened is that my father got accepted, but it is the way that he got accepted that worries me. They asked him a few questions to which some he answered honestly and to some not that he lied and cheated to them. Moreover he got 140000 dollars in pension which had to be used first by the authority after which they start paying us, what my father did is that he told them that he lost the money in gambling. He did this by going to a casino playing a few rounds showing himself to cameras and telling them he lost the money by which he then bought a home and some land. He got accepted and we started receiving a sum from a few months after.

My father as he was 55-57 years old could not get work or anything started to take the money and came back to homeland land and we use the money ever since. The money is given every month on a basis that the children must be studying and must give proof. All my brother and sisters study and we regularly send them proof which they want plus they give a fixed money to my father but not mother. That money is a little much for us that is we eat drink do our needs with it and can save and with the money we saved we bought land.

I married and we did some business but we usually lost money that is we always lose money in business. Now I want to repay the money which we took which brings me to another question must we repay the government from which we took the money or is this money halal?

Whatever we bought with the money the land or house has now increased in value do I have to pay the increase as well or just the sum taken?

My father cant repay them because he is old so I want to do it for him as he sacrificed all his life for us. I want to ask should I sell everything and repay the government?

Another thing is that can I START a business with that money earn enough and pay the government back will this profit be halal or haram. We do not have money to pay them back except by selling our properties and then we will have nothing and by doing job even in Europe paying back 5-7 hundred thousand dollar is hard very hard.

My father is a good man but he thought this is best for his family he knew he lied but he said that I worked for my pension and why should they give it to me in installments. He has back problems and has some anger issues but he is a good man prayes 5 times PRAYES NAFIL FOR HIS PARENTS EVERYDAY 20 RAKATS gives zakat gives sadaqa helps poor buys materials for mosque went 2 times hajj.

Please guide me I know my question is lengthy but here some molvis do not understand me. I want to pay back this money by any means. So to wrap it up do I HAVE TO SELL THE PRPERTIES TO PAY THEM BACK BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE ANY OTHER MEANS OR CAN I START A BUSINESS AND WITH THE PROFITS PAY THEM BACK? THE ZAKAT AND SADAQA ETC WHICH HE GIVES/gave IS THAT QABOOL OR NOT QABOOL IN ISLAM My father thinks maybe this money is halal but I do not think so and we do not have other income but as soon we have some business or money we will leave it he says and pay them back please help cheating to non muslim government is that also haraam?

Q: If there is an aalimah and she is persistant on the fact she wants to trim her hair. She wants to do such because she she claims it will grow back healthier and complains of it getting stuck in her buttocks and tying her hair gives a headache she wants to cut it about to to 3/4 of the back. I have told her that Aalimahs should be guides and refrain from cutting and trimming her hair. What shall I say to her and if she does so what should my attitude be towards her?

Q: Is a strong promise the same as an oath? If someone makes a firm intention not to do something (word usage is promise) then if they break the promise do they have to give kafarah?

Q: I try to study comparative studies of different sects of Muslims. I’ve read your answers about Shias on the website where you have stated that shias are kafir. Kindly consider my following questions and answer please.

1. Are shias or anyone who have hatred in their hearts for Rightly guided caliphs or he/she criticize them are kafir?

2. Does anyone who speaks ill about Umm ul Momineen makes him/her kaafir?

3. If answer for above questions is YES, then why do our Muhadditheen narrated from them prophetic narrations? (Ubayd Allah bin Musa al-Absi, Abbad bin Yaqub al-Rawajini & Abd al-Malik bin Ayan al-Kufi and more)

4. Is it allowed to narrate from kaafir whether he/she is truthful?

5. Do we have any narration in our Sihah books or other books of Ahadeeth narrated from any non-muslim except shias?

Q: Three years ago after giving birth, my auntie had her operation done to avoid conceiving any more children. This was because she was facing alot of marriage problems and had this done without notifying her husband. The reason being was that she was worried that it might have a reverse affect on her marriage or her husband wouldn't support her decision. Its been 3 years now and her husband is still unaware of this.

Now mmy auntie has alot of remorse and regret for her action. She feels she is deceiving her husband who really wants another child. She is unable to tell her husband about this act as she fears it might ruin her marriage or she will lose her husband's trust. My auntie is facing a dilemma and doesnt know what to do.

She has cried in front of Allah and asked Allah's for forgiveness many times considering this act of hers to be wrong.

Apart from this alhumdulilah she is living a happy married life. Both her and her husband want to have another child preferably a son as they have 2 daughters. My auntie also thinks she will be able to concieve and she has seen many dreams where either her mom (deceased) is giving her a new born baby or she has had one herself. She has also spoken to the doctors to ask her if anything can be reversed however they have said no.

Could you please help my auntie out of this situation. What should she do to remove this guilt from her life? Is there anything that she can pray to have another child despite the operation.?

Q: With regards to calculating one's zakaat in a business setup, sometimes one's zakaat date falls a few days before one pays his vat and taxes. Sometimes, the amount of the vat and taxes can reach an amount of one million or two million. Can one subtract this amount when calculating his zakaat, just as one subtracts his debts?

Q: With regards to black Friday fatwas below, I would like some clarification on the maslas:

http://muftionline.co.za/node/17022 and http://muftionline.co.za/node/23325

1) From what I understand, since black Friday is a kuffar custom, it would thus be haram for a Muslim business owner to have a black Friday sale. Is this a correct?

2) From the above fatwas and discussion, it seems that even to go to a shop and purchase items on a black friday sale would be makrooh?( due to resembling kuffar, adding to the crowd etc and the relative ahadith) Is this correct, what is rank would this fall into haram, makrooh tanzihi tahrimi, permissible ? If a person needs eg nappies, could get it from a shop having the sale, he shouldn't do so?

3) If a person buys items online, securing the sale price, then picks up the items at week later, or has them delivered to him, so now he is not celebrating the kuffar custom, nor adding to the numbers of the crowd, would this be permissible now. Would there be any level of karahat in this. If there be any level of karahat, would this not be making things difficult for the lay man, to get the item one week later and pay much more.

Q: My grandparents won a lottery of 1 lakh rs around 20 years ago. They then added some amount to this lottery amount (around 35K rs) and purchased a home. Thereafter, one of my family members lived in that house. Presently that house is on rent and we receive a rent of around 10K rs per month. I came to know that lottery is haram. So what should be done now?

Q: A certain musjid has decided with the approval of a Mufti to build an astro turf soccer field on the musjid premises, whilst the premises is waqf. The project is spearheaded by the main Imaam and a collection drive is on for the funds of approximately R450 000. The organizers feel that they will attract people to the musjid and save them from the evils out there. The usual suspects that are being followed are the Ulemaa and community in a nearby town (apparently the nearby town has a similar facility in their muslim school yard). This astro turf will apparently be open to females asking them to adhere to purdah whilst they make use of the facility. The project seems rushed to beat anyone putting a stop to it.

1) Can such a project be done on waqf land?

2) Can females play sport in the musjid yard?

3) Should the organizers lease the land and pay a fee to the musjid?

Q: I heard that prohibition of coloring the hair black is only for men, not for women. Is this correct?