Business and Dealings

Working for a bank

Q: In a banking institution the only income they do earn is through Riba. There is no other income generation process involved in a Bank's system. And it means, a bank is paying salaries and profits to all of its employees and partners through the generated income which is nothing but Riba. In that scenario, how can it be legal for an employee to receive such an income which he knows that is paid to him through Riba, and at the same time he knows that he is a part of the machinery where business is nothing but to generate Riba income. In my opinion it becomes totally invalid for a muslim to be associated with a banking institution. Am I right?

Share of profit fixed as percentage of capital

Q:

1. I got an offer from somebody that if I invest some money with him, for example 100 USD then he will give me back 130USD after one month without any work. Is it halaal?

2. Somebody told me if I invest 100 USD in his website and work daily for it (I think work will be related to share his company, website or post something about his business on social media) then he will give me 130USD back after the month. Is it halaal?

3. Somebody told me if I invest 100 USD in his Business/Website and daily work for it (work is related to his advertisement) then he will give me back 200 USD means double after the month. If I do not work for them then they will give me only 20% earnings on my investment on monthly basis. Is it halaal?

4. Somebody told me if I invest 100 USD with him whether I work he will give me 30% on my investment and if I do not work then he will also pay me 30% on my investment. Is it halaal?

5. Somebody told me if I invest 100 USD with him and daily work for it (work is related to his advertisement) then he will give me 30% profit on it and if I do not work then he will not give me any profit means my earnings/profit depends on my daily work. Is it halaal?

6. Somebody told me if I invest 100 USD with him then he will give me 130% on end of month means 130 USD. There is no work for me. Now here is the question they said either they earn 1000 USD or 1 Lac USD they will give me fixed 130% and something occurs bad and if they collapse their business/website then they will give me real seed money/investment without any profit. Is it halaal?

7. If I buy 50 USD AdPack from any Website/Company and it makes 55 USD and the work is watching of 10 Ads Daily then after making of 55 USD the adpack expires (ads are related to different websites, companies, hotels etc, means related to every aspect of life). Is it halaal?

Doing personal work out of office time

Q: My question is that "freelance work is allowed in Islam or not?" Let me tell you the details. I have signed the contract with my company and in my contract it is mentioned that I cant work for any other company until unless I have written permission from the CEO of the company. Now I got one freelance project which probably I will do after my office timing at my home so my office work will not be effected with this. But sometime I also do work in my free time in the office using office machines. As in the start of Surah Maidah is " 'O believers! Fulfil your promises" so on that I guess I can't but I have still confusion. In the end, if I am doing this, I will earn with my work and one of my friends told me this kind of contract is similar to slavery and slavery is not allowed in Islam, so you can violate that contract. Kindly help me out in this as soon as possible.

Both disputing parties not having any evidence

Q: My elder sister because of no children she was living with me instead of her husband since last about 45 years. She went entitled to draw pension amount of his husband after his death since last 05 years. In July 2015 she got Mouth Cancer and for proper treatment I brought her from Village to Karachi (Pakistan) city. To share the expenses she handed over me her Pension Book. To draw the pension from Village Post Office I handed over that Book to my relative Mr ZAID's family and told them to draw the pension on monthly basis and please enter in a separate note book to keep the record. I may ask to send me or whenever I shall visit the village I may collect the same from you. In March 2016 my elder sister passed away. After her death Mr ZAID informed me that I have donated all the amount to a village Mosque Trust. I asked him that why he did so without my permission as the amount belonged to me. He said that your late sister during her life has instructed me to do so. Mufti Sahab after all this, a few questions are in my mind please guide me in this regard.

1. How should I trust ZAID's statement because he failed to inform me about my sister's Instruction for donation of this amount during her life to confirm the same from my elder sister which is impossible after her death?

2. Whether Mr ZAID was entitled to utilize that amount which was left amaanat with her family. In my opinion he is khaain. Is it correct?

3. Whether my late sister was allowed to instruct about that amount which she has already handed over to me and allowed me to utilize that amount?

Charging commission

Q: I have been asked a question by someone of the following matter. Just setting out the case. The person needing the advice is a businessman who is dealing with an agent of another party. The agent comes with a tender to provide in bulk an item for the third party. By agreement the businessman tells the agent of the third party that he will give him 7.5 percent commission on the amount of the bulk. In order to give the 7.5 percent commission, the businessman inflates his usual price of the item in order to incorporate the 7.5 commission i.e if the businessman would usually sell an item for R10 000 he would now quote the price as R10 750 so that the agent of the third party can get the commission of R750 from the businessman . The way in which this works is that the agent will get the quotation approved to the amount of R10 750 and get the cheque to that amount of which he will give R10 000 to the businessman and will retain the R750 for himself and the goods will then be supplied. Bare in mind that the businessman still only makes an actual invoice of R10 000 and the transaction takes place only between the businessman and the agent of the 3rd party in which the 3rd parties information is not disclosed to the businessman. Is such business practice permissible? If not, what is the way forward in keeping this business relationship, again baring in mind that if the businessman does not give any incentive to the agent the agent will no longer transact with the businessman and together with that the businessman does want to lose out on the profit based on his normal prices and hence inflates the price to provide an incentive to the agent of the third party. I am an academic and I need more insight on the islamic perspective and permissibility of such a case and what is the best course to follow.

Using pirated software

Q: I had purchased a computer from a shop. There are a few software which are not genuine. They are pirated version like windows etc. So is it permissible to use such software? We use this computer for our work, so will our income be lawful?