Various masaail of Business and Dealings

Q: Can I start a new company while working for another company without compromising on my work for the current employers? Do I have to inform the employers?

Q: I was talking to a friend of mine and I accidently talked about the preparation method of one of my parents businesses which was a chain store for smoothies. If I broke some kind of confidentiality agreement, do I have to ask for forgiveness? The thought crossed my mind but I for some reason kept going with the discussion not knowing if there was one.

Q: An employee works for a company and his stipulation is not set at the beginning. He is paid an amount less than the market rate for such a job. Secondly, the employer places the entire burden of taxes on the employee, whereas the employer is required by law to pay 7.65%. The employee works because he cannot find another job currently, is this Zulm on the part of the employer?

Is it permissible for him to take on clients on the side and complete work in the office and keep the compensation for that? What if he pays for his own supplies such as papers, pens, etc?

Q: Recently a customer came to our shop. In the customer comments book he wrote that we should close our shop during Jumuah time as mentioned in the Qur'an as Allah will give us barakah if we close our shop. Is this correct? Is it permissible to trade Jumuah time?

PS: No Muslim staff are at the shop during Jumuah time. They all go to perform their salaah.

Q: My items are advertised online and then shipped to customers. I do not have a physical store. I therefore communicate with customers, potential customers, suppliers, distributors and so forth via correspondence. These are often woman, almost always non-Muslim, from all different countries. I am a male. Regarding communicating with woman for business purposes:

1. Is it permissible to use formal business formalities/etiquette in email? For example, to say: "Good morning", "Hope you are well", "I look forward to your response", "It is a pleasure doing business with you", "All the best", "Kind regards" and so forth.

2. Is it permissible to communicate with them via the more 'informal methods' like SMS / WhatsApp / BBM / Facebook Chat / Twitter Direct Messaging etc.? I am mostly contacted via these methods initially.

3. If Question 2 is permissible: Can one use more informal terms like "Hi", "Hello","Thanks" and so forth when communicating over those mediums mentioned in Question 2?

4. Is it permissible to phone them and speak over the phone when necessary? In all the instances above, everything will be kept to the point of need and related to the business.

Q: I do not stock a certain brand of permissible underwear products. When customers query regarding these products, I refer them to a non-Muslim competitor who stocks these brands. I have found out that this competitor is openly gay and has a husband. He also sells a number of lewd underwear products and gay lingerie. He does not have a physical store. His products are shipped to customers. Is it correct to refer people to purchase from such a person?

Q: What is the solution to long terms and conditions? I need to make a PayPal account but before I can register it says something like "I confirm I have read, consent and agree to the User Agreement and Privacy Policy" but these I read contain 36,000 something words! It is a waste of time and I want to know if I am allowed to just tick "Yes", because I don't want to lie, but I need to use the service, please give me your advice. Is being ambiguous ok? Like, if I find a program that "reads" the terms and conditions, for example if I click "Read" and the program "reads it" so technically I could say ambiguously "I have read ... " and so on.

Q: A person prints a personal email, document, etc., from his employer. There is a subtle allowance and a fair use policy in place. As a Muslim, is there anything forbidden in this practice?

Q: I would like to know whether the command of leaving bay at the time of jumuah will also apply to ladies who do business over BBM etc?

Q: What is a muwakkil?