Q: I intend to purchase a car that has a warranty. The dealer offered to extend the warranty by 5 years for an additional amount of R3000. The warranty covers towing and fixing if the car breaks down and replacement of parts. I notice that the policy is with an insurance company. Is this acceptable?
Q: I am purchasing a cellphone and have been offered the following option for extending the warranty:
Pay $10 a month and if you lose or break your phone, you can get a new one. Plus, every six months, you can trade in your old phone, pay the difference and get a new one.
Q: I want to buy a car. If I buy it for cash then the price is R260 000, and if I buy it in instalments, then I have to pay R300 000 i.e. R40 000 extra. Is it permissible to buy on instalments?
Q: I work as a middleman, taking orders for medical equipment, surgical instruments, etc. I make money through charging a commission on the orders. Is this permissible?
Q: Can you do a business transaction with your spouse? E.g. the husband wants to buy a car. Can the wife pay for it and sell it to her husband with a profit on the sale of the car?
Q: I run a supermarket. Is there any limit on the amount of profit that I can make on the items that I sell?
Q: My mother bought a property with a share from her brother the price of the property has doubled and now I want to sell the property. Should I give him the same amount of money he invested at the time or do I give him profit because the price of the house has doubled?
Q: A certain person owned a property that his friend wished to buy from him. On seeing the land, his friend offered him R1.2 million. He told his friend, “I don’t know the value of the property. If the value is more, you must sort me out.” After a week passed, the owner still hadn’t checked the value, but concluded a deal for R1.2 million, even making out a contract and signing the papers. A few months later, the initial owner learnt that the value was R1.5 million. He now wants to claim an additional R300 000 from the seller. Is this permissible?
Q:
1. I remember hearing in a program that a person needs to take possession of an item before selling it. I sometimes receive inquiries about my product from people living in other provinces. My supplier is prepared to make courier arrangements for delivery directly to the customer with adding the courier costs to the price of the product. Although the customer receives the goods directly from my supplier, they do not know this as they pay me for the goods and courier costs and I pay the supplier in turn. Is this permissible?
2. Some items are costly and I do not keep any stock with me. Is it permissible for me to charge the customer and then order the goods?
3. I am also the distributor for an item which is made in another province. I do not have a vehicle of my own to transport the goods and the space to store bulk orders. Is it permissible for me to take orders from customers and get the transport company to deliver directly to the customer?
Q: At my work place, we sell airtime from machines. Because of the very low profit margin, my employer wants to, for example, sell the R5 at R6 and increase the other denominations accordingly. Will this be permissible according to Shari’ah?