Trade

Q: What is the ruling of Shari’ah in regard to a person who is in financial constraints and people (e.g. his creditors) take advantage of his situation? They are well aware that due to his situation, if they offer him an extremely low price for his goods, he will accept due to his desperation and sell it to them. An item worth R50 will easily be sold to them for R5. Is it permissible for them to ‘squeeze’ him in this manner, due to which they will get much more money from him than he actually owes them?

Q: I want to start a vegetable business. Can we sell both non organic and organic vegeatables or only organic vegetables?

Also, can we sell chickens and egg without hens getting chemicals or injections in the body or do we have to sell organic only?

Q: What is an istisnaa’ transaction and what is the Shar’ee ruling regarding it?

Q: As we have to buy products like sunscreens and medicine even from the non Muslims (if the ingredients are halaal), they sometimes put crosses on the packaging.For instance, a sunscreen package may have a cross, the same goes for some medicines or patches.

Is it considered haraam for us to buy such medicine or sunscreens if the packaging has a cross? 

Q: At work, I'm one of the buyer's for the cash 'n carry. They sell these traditional muti products amongst many other cosmetics, sweets, household items. These traditional muti products like tokoloshe salts, oils, etc. have phrases such as "win the lotto", "bring back lost love", "go away evil", etc. on its packaging. Now I have to buy these products, price it, promote it and so on, amongst other items. I really feel uneasy about it as its wrong and impermissible to sell according to my weak understanding. I don't know how to approach the boss and inform him. And the more heartbreaking thing is that one of the biggest suppliers of these products is Muslim owned, and also many of our Muslim brothers have specialized shops selling these products. What should I do and is my earnings doubtful or haraam?

Q: I am going to start an online business to sell women's clothing online. Is it permissible to post pictures of the clothes worn by women in which their faces, hair and hands are showing?

Q: Is it permissible in Islam to sell items at a large markup? Is there a limit as to how much profit we can make?

Q: We had a sale agreement for our property five years ago with a person for 8 million rupees. He paid 2 million rupees in advance, and he promised that he will settle the balance of 6 million rupees after 6 months and complete the registration. However, he was unable to arrange the remaining amount of 6 million rupees. Now we are planning to sell the property to some other person. Therefore, I need to return the 2 million rupees to the person, but since it's been 5 years, he is now demanding more money instead of 2 million rupees. Do we need to pay the extra money?

Q: We have an arrangement with our supplier to pay his account, 2.5% discount on the 30th following the month of our purchases. Is this shariah compliant? If not, please explain in detail how we can rectify this arrangement so that we still enjoy the benefit of the discount.

Q: I am doing business online. I sell portraits and paintings, etc. I also sell hand painted hijaabs and sharee gowns. I like to wear beautiful clothes at home. From here I feel a hijaabi sister can wear attractive clothing when they are at home in front of maharams.

1. Am I in a trap of shaitan if I think this way?

2. Can I sell these clothes to non hijaabi sisters?

3. Is it permissible to do this type of business?

4. I know that niqaab is a permissible dress code in islam, but there are many controversies about hijaab. Can I sell hijaab?