Business and Dealings

Q: Are we as transporters permitted to take insurance to cover goods in transit?

Q: At tills in stores, there are speed points that accept debit and credit cards. Will we get sin if the customer uses his credit card and says that he wants his payment to be budget, not straight, so the bank will charge him interest?

Q: I want to make my passport so I went to the passport office and there are agents sitting there. They do all the procedures of making the passport and charge some extra money for my easiness. Is this thing is right or wrong? Is this bribery or not? 

Q: My father runs a wine shop. He asked me to do some calculations in his account work. I am an unmarried girl. What should I do?

Q: My great grandfather had an estate in Durban from which they were forcefully evicted in 1972. My father also passed away in 1972. He was survived by his two brothers of which one passed away a few years ago. My paternal grandfather, who is now late, had many brothers and sisters of which two brothers and few sisters are living.

One of my paternal grandfather’s living brothers contacted the government some years ago to ask for compensation. The government sold this land recently for about 20 million Rands. The government decided to give us a gift of plus minus six million Rands in total, but did not know how to apportion it. They looked at the surviving sons and daughters of my great grandfather. In total, there are plus minus 34 shareholders.

In our scenario, my paternal grandmother is first in line since my paternal grandfather is late. She has one living son who is my father’s brother and no daughters. The government said that the money is a gift to all the living descendants of my great grandfather, but each one’s descendants should amicably agree to apportion their shares proportionately.

In my case, my father is survived by my mother, my brother and I. So, the government is giving about R200 000 each to my paternal grandmother, my father’s living brother and R200 000 to my mother, brother and myself and the last R200 000 to my father’s late brother’s family.

Initially, my father’s brother was not happy to give us the money saying that we do not inherit. However, due to pressure from all other shareholders, he decided to also make us party to the gift. Are we entitled to accept this gift from the government?

Q: Is there a hadith that talks about parents giving their children gifts in ones lifetime. Can a parent give one child more than the other?

Q: Is forex trading halaal or haraam? While I use an interest free account, I use a swipe free and no commission account. My broker says its 100% according to Islamic Shariah. Kindly tell me about it in detail.

Q: I earn a living through selling items at auctions. Sometimes, I bid on my own goods on auction, or get someone else to bid on my goods, in order to raise the price of my items. Since the bidding commences at a low price, I fear that I may suffer a loss if I do not do so. Is this permissible in Islam?

Q: I own a carwash where I employ staff to wash the cars of customers who come to get their cars cleaned.

I erected a sign informing the customers that neither my staff nor I will be held liable for any damage caused to their vehicles on my premises, and entry is at their own risk. Is this permissible?

After making this declaration, if one of my staff accidentally damages a customer's car, who is responsible?

Q: I earn a living by selling cars. I go to auctions and buy second-hand cars. Thereafter, I leave the car with a dealer who has a showroom. The dealer sells the car for me and we split the profit according to a pre-agreed percentage (e.g. 50% each).

Before selling the car, the dealer sometimes has some work done on the car such as repairing wind-screen chips, touching up the paint, changing the tyres, etc. The cost for this work is deducted from my share of the profit. Is this permissible?