Q: I am a farmer and supply milk to shops. Almost all the other farmers sell their milk at a low price because they add water to the milk. The customers are aware of this as well. If I sell my milk without water, nobody will buy it because it will be more expensive than the milk with the water. If I inform my customers and mutually agree with them to add water to the milk, will it be permissible?
Q: I have purchased tomato sauce for resale; however, the tomato sauce is past the manufacturer’s best before date. I am in the food industry for the past 20 years and I know that the tomato sauce will not go bad by the date reflected by the manufacturer. In fact, the item is still good for another one year after the best before date. I wish to get the item tested by an independent food technologist and then adjust the date on the packaging to the date the independent food technologist recommends. Will it be permissible for me to adjust the date or will this fall under deception?
Q: Many people are going binary option nowadays to make money. Is it halaal to trade online through investment in binary options in the stock exchange. It basically is speculation whether or not a commodity will go up or down in the stock exchange. Nowadays the software purchased by yourself will do the speculation for you. Please advise whether this sort of earnings in halaal.
Q: My question is a regarding business.
I have a store and sometimes I get some guys to buy from me goods for their organisation. (I have no idea who they are funded by). They will only bring to me business if I give them commision. So what I do is if I am selling something for 5000, I quote them 5500. After quote is accepted they give me 5500 and from there I will give them 500 as commision. I want to know is this a halal method? If not can you explain to me in detail a halal way so that we can carry on with business in our shariah way and follow the sunnats of our Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam).
Q: I am planning on buying a new house that costs $250,000. However, I do not have enough money to pay the full amount up front and I do not want to pay interest on the house. The deal I have worked out with the company selling the house is that I will pay $300,000 for the house but I will not pay any interest. Meaning, I will pay $2,000 every month for 150 months for a total of $300,000. This way the company will make some money on the house and I will not pay any interest.
Is this a permissible deal for me to make?
Q: Is it permissible to attach the condition of goodwill to a sale? If not, what is the correct procedure?
Q: I run a business buying and selling furniture, gold and silver. When a person sells an item to us, then in most cases, an option is given to the seller to buy back the item sold at any time, if still in stock, but at a higher price. Is this permissible?
Q: I went to a college in 2015 and for three months I missed payments to them. I want to pay it back now but I only want to pay for two months. Because the one month we did not do much work and they wasted my time. Can I pay for two months or do I have to pay for all three months? They have no record of it, and they are not asking. But I know that I missed three payments. Do I have to pay for it or must leave it?
Q: I work at a company that sells wooden boards. Carpenters come to us with the measurements of the customer’s job, then we use a computer program to work out how many boards the customer will require. Sometimes, the customer only requires two boards but the carpenter asks us to charge him for three boards. The customer thinks that he needs three boards and is paying for three, whereas he only needs two and is only receiving two while the carpenter takes the money from us quietly for the third board. My boss says that we are not doing anything wrong because the carpenter is taking the money and we are not taking anything. Is this permissible?
Q: I have a query regarding the payment options of my son’s school fees. Please advise whether the following option is permissible:
Pay in full by the first Friday of February and receive a 5% discount. This amounts to R12 350 for the year instead of R13 000 if I have to split the fee over each school term or per month. The various payment plans are as follows:
1. As detailed above with 5% discount = R12 350 per annum
2. An amount of R3250 per school term = R13 000 per annum
3. An amount of R1300 per month for 10 months (Jan-Oct) = R13 000 per annum