Interest and Gambling

Provident Fund

Q: My question is related to provident fund. I have resigned from my current job and inshaallah would be joining another company within short time. Till the time I resign I had no control on my provident fund money (as usual employer was deducting a portion of salary as PF) now due to resignation I have 2 options for the amount of money which is there in my PF account.

  1. I can transfer my PF money to new account which will be maintained by my new company. This will give the benefit of compounded interest earned and going further if I complete certain years I will be getting additional pension benefits and tax savings.
  2. I can withdraw the currently accumulated PF money and use it, through the new company I have to open new account starting with zero balance. Later as part of salary PF portion will be put in by company.

I have read that interest earned on PF is gift as employee does not have control (ikhtiyar) on the money deducted by employer, in above mentioned
options I feel that option-1 is like Voluntary PF as (due to resignation I have control or choice it to withdraw ) but considering the compounded
interest and other benefits im willingly putting my money to new employers new PF account and according to FIQH voluntary PF is not allowed.

Please guide me in the light of Quran and Sunnah to which of the option to choose from and whether transferring the PF money (option-1) will be haraam as it includes interest earning by choice.

eBucks

Q: I would like to know what is the sha'ree ruling on e-bucks. Many family people use it and I want to show them the sha'ree ruling.

Compulsory insurance

Q: We have recently found out that medical aid and insurance are not permissible and cancelled ours. We have recently opened a tyre fitment centre. The department of labour have requested us to enter our staff on the system, we did plan on doing so however found out now that they have to have an insurance as their job here entails a risk so if we put them on the system they will be insured and if we don't we could be in trouble with the department of labour.

Being eligible for a certain bank account

Q: I have a question which might seem a little odd but was hoping you could assist me. I have an account with First National Bank called a Young Professionals Account and the only way you can get this account is  if you are between the age of 18 and 30, earn more than a specific amount a month and have a professional degree (law, accounting, engineering, medicine etc), like a profession. I got the account a couple of years ago but started realising now that I don't have one of those professional degrees, although I do fill the other requirements of age and minimum salary. Mine is a Bcom IT Degree, just not a professional degree like the ones required for the account. They required a degree certificate which I handed to them and they did accept it at the branch I went to. I'm torn as to whether it is haraam for me to have this account and whatever I have spent and use in this account is wrong or forbidden. The degree certificate I handed to the branch was my own certificate showing a normal Bcom degree. Should I be worried about this? Do I need to change my account? What about all the things I have used the account for? Apologies for the odd question. I did know at the time that it wasn't one of those professional degrees but it didn't occur to me that it might be wrong. This account also has fees and and these fees are automatically taken from the account as well.