Business and Dealings

Q: I wanted to buy a sewing machine for R5500. I paid R500 and my husband paid the remaining R5000. Who does the machine belong to?

Q: An offer of purchase is signed by the purchaser and accepted by way of signing. While the lawyers are busy with the sale and waiting for the money, the seller passes away. Must his heirs honour the sale?

Q: My brother does not have own house and is planning to buy one with the help of bank loan. Will he be entering into any sin by doing so?

Q: I am married and live with my husband & In-laws. My in-laws have invested certain amount of money with their son-in-law who have his own
trading firm and he pays a certain fix amount on monthly basis as return for investment. I would like to know whether this monthly fixed amount received on investment will be considered as halaal as per Islam.

Q: I have a question which might seem a little odd but was hoping you could assist me. I have an account with First National Bank called a Young Professionals Account and the only way you can get this account is  if you are between the age of 18 and 30, earn more than a specific amount a month and have a professional degree (law, accounting, engineering, medicine etc), like a profession. I got the account a couple of years ago but started realising now that I don't have one of those professional degrees, although I do fill the other requirements of age and minimum salary. Mine is a Bcom IT Degree, just not a professional degree like the ones required for the account. They required a degree certificate which I handed to them and they did accept it at the branch I went to. I'm torn as to whether it is haraam for me to have this account and whatever I have spent and use in this account is wrong or forbidden. The degree certificate I handed to the branch was my own certificate showing a normal Bcom degree. Should I be worried about this? Do I need to change my account? What about all the things I have used the account for? Apologies for the odd question. I did know at the time that it wasn't one of those professional degrees but it didn't occur to me that it might be wrong. This account also has fees and and these fees are automatically taken from the account as well.

Q: I have old 50 cent and R1 coins which I collected over the years. Is it permissible to sell these coins for a price more than the face value? It has become a collector’s item and has more value in the collectors’ market.

Q: I own a shop. Sometimes, when people buy goods from me, they leave it in the shop and don’t collect it. Is it permissible for me to re-sell those items?

Q: If a muslim man kills a non muslim in an accident in this country. Is there any diyat and how much. Does he have to pay kaffaarah by fasting also?

Q: Is it halal to invest in Stock market like buying permissible shares like Petrol, gas, pharmaceuticals, cement etc. Since we are not the owner of the company how can we know how the owner has started that business? He may have brought some loan from the bank to start his business and later he may be introduced shares. In this case, how can we buy even halal shares and also, even if we are investing our halal amount to that share, there are million other investor who also invest their earnings (both haram and halal) in the same stock like mine. In this case, my amount is mingled with their amount and my profit is not halal. Correct me if I am wrong. Considering all this, can we say Stock as a whole is haram since we are not sure about all the investors.

Q: I want to buy a lottery ticket. Is it permissible in Islam?