Business and Dealings

Q: What are the rules and guidelines that have to be followed for a bank to be Shari’ah compliant? When dealing with the bank, how do we judge whether the dealing is permissible or not?

Q: I am a student of engineering and in the last summer vacation I worked in a computer repair shop and I earned money by assisting , installing programs and anti-viruses (paid and free versions ). I also unlocked mobile passwords (may be stolen or not, i was not sure), and broke the anti theft systems of iphones, nokia mobile phones. i earned for about 500$ and from that money i was confused whether it is halaal or haraam. I told the customers that the program was pirated version and still they paid me for installing it. Now is the earnings from installing pirated windows, anti-viruses, and programs haram and if it is then I have already spent all of that money maybe 100$ in mosque and charity, and 130$ watch for my dad ,120$ microwave, then I thought that giving 130$ from my dads money will make it ok to get his watch used by him, hence my father gave me 130$ and I gave that in charity. Now I have a guilty conscious whether my fathers watch is halaal or not, please guide me. Will giving the same amount of money in sadqah of the things I bought from that 500$ will make it halaal. There were times I took money for some services like fixing etc, hence not all money was from pirated software and neither all of it is from unlocking locked smartphones and neither all of it was from pure fixing.

Q: My mom is kafir and is asking about Islamic finance. I to be honest don't know much about this subject and have heard that it is not actually so Islamic after all. I live in Australia. Please advice on this matter.

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: A Muslim relative is known to have been involved in taking drugs and alcohol. I do not know the source of his income i.e. whether he even deals in drugs or not. He has been in and out of rehab many times. I do not know his current condition. He sends a gift for me.

(1) Is this gift permissible for me?

(2) If it is not permissible, must it be given in charity without the intention of reward?

Q: A young aalim mentioned that it is permissible to take back a gift, although undesirable and in the hadith it is likened to a dog swallowing it's own vomit Is this correct? If I give someone a gift and give full ownership to the person I can take it back at any time?

Q: I work with non-muslims where we sit four in a room. They have a radio and music is played for the entire duration of the day. This off course has a huge affect on my concentration, ability to perform zikr and on my heart as I do not listen to music Alhamdulillah. This at times becomes intolerable but I cannot do anything about it as this will not be understood by anyone. I so desire to find myself in a work environment where it is peaceful and where the praises of Allah Ta'ala can be made in abundance. What is my position and your advice. Please make dua for me for Allah Ta'ala to change my condition. Ameen.

Q: I took/stole some money when I was much younger and I am not sure whether I took zakaat or lillah money. Now when I am going to put the money back, what must I write on the envelope (because I'm not sure what money it was).

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: In Saudi Arabia, the Toyota Cars company will sell the car on installment and the procedure is as follows: (1) First of all they will make an agreement, that they are giving this car on rental basis and fix some amount as a monthly rent. (2) After completing 4 or 5 years, they will sell the car to the same person who took for 4 to 5 years on a rental basis, by considering that now, this car is second hand car and hence they will take some lumpsome amount of SAR 15,000/- or SAR 20,000/- etc. Lastly they will transfer the car to that party. (3) Is it permissible to take the car as above said procedure based on Islam. (4) Please clarify and reply me.