Transactions

Transactions
5th May 2025

Owning and hosting an online Marketplace where anyone can sell things

Assalamu alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh.

I want to create an online marketplace for courses (learning), which I am hosting, where buyers and sellers meet, where I receive commission from all courses / learning that is sold on this marketplace.

I will try to implement an approval process, where I have to approve a course before it is submitted.

What if someone posts a learning course on something like earning money through haraam methods?

Am I responsible for the sin of this if people buy from this and learn from this?
Is there sin on me?

It would be overwhelming for me to be able to catch and deny all submissions that have haraam elements like this, simply because there is not enough time to go through each course.

Should I develop this marketplace or just leave it alone?

JazakumAllaahu khayran.
Transactions
6th May 2025

Riba - accountant

As-salāmu ʿalaykum,

I have a question I’d like to ask you, as I sincerely hope to specialize in Islamic finance in the future and eventually become a chartered accountant.

I’d really appreciate your opinion on the following situation:

Let’s imagine a client working in the construction or restaurant industry, for example, decides to change accountants. As a result, we take over their file, meaning we receive all their previous accounting records (cash inflows and outflows). However, it’s possible that this client took out a conventional (interest-based) loan in the past to finance their business activities.

My question is: despite this loan, are we still allowed to become this client’s accountant?

This would involve, on our end, recording in the client’s books every month the interest payments made to the bank, as well as the repayment of the loan principal.

We, of course, did not advise the client to take out this loan, nor do we work in collaboration with the bank.

However, our job is to provide a true and fair view of the client’s financial situation, by recording everything they receive (income) and everything they pay (expenses, including interest expenses). Would simply recording these interest charges in their accounts be considered haram in and of itself?

BarakAllahu feek,

Manel
Transactions
4th May 2025

Whole life insurance

Salem Alikoum.
I hope my message finds you well.

I would like to inquire whether whole life insurance is Haram or not. I tried to summerize the contract as below. Jazakum Allah keira.

Whole life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that covers you for your entire life, as long as you keep paying the premiums. It also builds cash value over time, which you can borrow against or withdraw while you're still alive.

Key features:

1. Lifelong coverage — it pays a death benefit to your beneficiaries no matter when you die (as long as premiums are paid).


2. Fixed premiums — the amount you pay monthly or annually usually stays the same for life.


3. Cash value accumulation — part of your premium goes into a savings-like cash value account that grows over time, often at a guaranteed rate. This one I already have declined due to interest. But I have asked to keep the cash value as is similar to saving bank account.


4. You can borrow against it — you can take out loans from the cash value while you’re alive, though it reduces the death benefit if not repaid.


5. More expensive than term life insurance — because it provides lifetime coverage and a cash value component.
Transactions
25th March 2025

Concern Regarding the Commercial Exploitation of Islam

Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh.

I am reaching out because I’ve recently noticed an increasing trend that deeply concerns me. It seems that some businesses are exploiting Islam for commercial purposes, using religious symbols and terminology as mere marketing tools to attract Muslim consumers. For example, I’ve seen products like candies being excessively advertised as “halal” in a way that feels more like a sales gimmick than a genuine adherence to Islamic principles. I even came across a watch with Arabic numerals being labeled as a “Muslim watch” — a description that feels unnecessary and exploitative.

As a Muslim, I find this troubling. It feels as though the sacredness of our faith is being reduced to a marketing strategy. I would greatly appreciate your guidance on this matter. Are there any perspectives from the Hanafi school regarding the misuse of religion for personal or commercial gain? I believe that such practices not only mislead consumers but also undermine the integrity of our faith.

Thank you for taking the time to read my message. I look forward to your response. BarakAllahu Feek.
Transactions
7th March 2025

Ebooks on the internet

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
Can I use an ebook which I find on مكتبة النور، مكتبة الشاملة, internet archive?
I sometimes find in the books that in it is written that it's not allowed to reproduce the book in antiform or transform it and different platforms etc but sometimes I find books in which there is no word about this kind of things but it's only really written that all rights are reserved so can I use this kind of book?
For example some days ago I found the book of imam Sharawi, the book of Tawba but I am confused whether to use it or not and it's written that all rights are reserved?
Transactions
15th February 2025

Permissibility of Leasing a house

Assalam Alaikum, respected Shaykh.




I wanted to know regarding permissibility of Leasing a house.

I would like to explain in detail just in case it's needed.




Let's say Person A is the owner of the house and Person B is the tenant.

So now, the Person B pays a Lumpsum amount of €40,000 to Person A,

And as per the agreement, Person B gets to occupy the house for certain period of time, let's say 5 years.

During these 5years, Person B doesn't have to pay any rent to Person A

At end of 5years Person A has to return the initial amount of €40,000 so that Person B vacates the house.




Kindly clarify if this type of Agreement is permissible.




Thanking You
Transactions
12th January 2025

Permissibility of buying pirated resources

Assalamu 'Alaikum! I am a medical student from Pakistan. I wanted to ask a question regarding buying pirates resources. This is my story: I am preparing to sit for the USMLE exams (exams required for starting residency in the US). For this, there are certain books and other resources (video lectures, etc.) that are important. One of these resources is the Kaplan Lecture notes and lectures. Now, the thing is that I have tried my level-best of trying to avoid buying pirates resources, but I couldn't find the original Kaplan notes anywhere I searched in Pakistan. They are available online, but have to be delivered from America and are priced at a whopping 1600 dollars. Now, this price is considered QUITE A LOT especially here in Pakistan (and that also only for a single resource!) Most of the people here don't worry about these things and buy the pirated books which are available for as low as 2 dollars a book. And the pirated video lectures are available for free online. Now, the thing is that the reason I was able to comfortably buy the other original international resources was that their prices had been adapted by the respective companies to Pakistan and were available from local bookshops. But the resource I am worried about (Kaplan) is not available here locally (talking about the original Kaplan notes) and therefore the prices of the original notes are extremely high as they have not been adapted to Pakistan.
What should I do in this case? Is it maybe permissible to buy the pirated resource for now, and then a few years down the line when I become a doctor inshaAllah, I buy the original resource at its original price?

I shall be grateful if you could answer this, because otherwise I would not be able to study with concentration knowing that I have been sinful.
JazakAllah!
Transactions
2nd January 2025

Seeking guidance on using 'Father's Day' for marketing and promoting products through non-Muslim inf

As-salamu alaykum, I have a couple of questions regarding marketing.

First, we are considering including the phrase 'Father's Day gifts' in the title of our product to attract more customers and increase sales. However, we are unsure if this is permissible in Islam, given that Father's Day is not an Islamic holiday. Is it permissible to use this keyword for the purpose of generating traffic and sales?

Second, is it permissible for non-muslims to buy my product and make videos with music on their channels and when they make a sale for my product, they automatically get a small commission.

JazakAllah Khair for your guidance.
Transactions
25th December 2024

Question about Loss Of Job Insurance in UAE

I live and work in Dubai, UAE.
In the UAE, there is a mandatory by law to have Loss-of-Job Insurance, known as ILOE. This insurance pays employee 60% of his salary if an employee is terminated (not resigned himself).

In November 2024, I lost my job because my company was moving to another country and closing its Dubai office. Just like every employee in UAE have ILOE insurance I also have it but its not mandatory to do a claim. However, I chose to submit a claim after my termination.
To process the claim, I incurred expenses of approximately AED 400 for arranging and submitting the required documents. Please note that the insurance provider, Dubai Insurance Company P.J.S.C., is not Shariah-compliant.

I have now received three installments from the insurance payout, amounting to AED 4,889 each, totaling AED 14,667.

I have the following questions regarding the permissibility and usage of this amount in accordance with Islamic Shariah principles:

1) Is this amount halal? Please note that the insurance provider, Dubai Insurance Company P.J.S.C., is a local insurance company but not Shariah-compliant.

2) Can I use this amount to pay my father’s loans? My father is elderly (over 60 years old, MashaAllah) and is no longer working. I cannot pay his loans from my income becasue his loan amount is huge.

3) Can I use this amount to purchase mandatory insurances in Dubai? For example, can I use it to pay for medical and car insurance, as these are mandatory in Dubai?


I kindly request your guidance to address these queries. I will await your reply to help me resolve this matter.

JAZAKALLAH KHER.
Transactions
8th November 2024

Are early bird discounts halal?

I operate a business selling products. Is it permissible for me to offer an early bird discount for a specific length of time in order to generate sales.

E.g The cost of an item is $50, but if they purchase within the first 7 days of listing the product it will be $40 ($10 off). The price will then return to the original specified price.

Would this be a permissible transaction for both products and services rendered?
Transactions
9th September 2024

Indirect use of stolen money in business

firstly, Who does profit belong to if someone invests in a business with stolen capital, the owner of the money (opinion 1) or the thief (opinion 2) ? also has Mufti Taqi usmani said his opinion on this?

Secondly, let’s say someone followed opinion 1 and used minimal stolen money to pay for their house . They are aware that using something stolen in a business may require a person to return the profits back to the owner of the money (depending on what opinion someone follows) .now what about a person whose bank account is using that home address, their government ID, their passport, their driving license, their phone numbers, their SIM contracts, insurances etc . How can we start a business or a job when there will always be a link to that house that was used to funded by minimal stolen money. It would be costly and difficult and time consuming to put all of this on another address espcially when other peoples houses have some stolen money contamination in them and they may not even let the thief use their address for their own benefit. Does this mean we can’t ever do business in this situation . This would also make it extremely difficult to get a job because they would need our bank accounts Id, address, contact details etc . Lastly , The phones and cars itself, aren’t funded with haram money but rather the home address that was used to file as an address for the insurance company has some stolen money in it . In extreme need, what could someone do?

Thirdly,I used to follow a mufti who I trusted that said that profit from a business that began with stolen capital belonged to the thief and not the owner of the capital (but the capital would need to be returned to the owner regardless) but now I follow someone else who I trust more that says the profit belongs to the owner . What do you think The person should do with the profits he made whilst following the first mufti’s opinion? What if giving away the money it causes him to have nothing and causes hardship in making money in the future ?

Finally, if someone followed opinion 1 (in the first question above) and they were selling to certain shops as part of their business and they wear stolen clothes even though there isn’t a specific type of clothes you have to wear in the business, would the income be haram ? What about driving to that place with a car bought with stolen money because it isn’t also needed in the business but they chose to use it anyway
Transactions
9th September 2024

Business with stolen money as capital

if someone invests in a business with stolen capital, does the profit need to be returned to the owner along with the capital or just the capital ?

if someone follows the opinion that profits from a business that's invested with stolen capital belong to the owner of the capital and not the thief and they followed that opinion from a scholar they trust but overtime they followed another scholar they was more inclined to and the scholar followed the opinion

if person 1 was to partner up with person 2 in business on the condition that person 2 brings the capital for the business, if his money is completely haram as in hes earned it by selling haram services but a tiny proportion of his money but not majority is earned thorough insurance fraud, even if it’s haram to use that capital in a partnership as it’s not halal, would the capital come out of the stolen savings or haram savings (the person is aware entering this type of partnership is haram and they need to repent)

Transactions
1st September 2024

Business Permissibility

Salam u Alakum,
I began working with a plastic surgeon in 2019. However, our engagement was not the typical employer/employee arrangement. My background was in business management, particularly in the medical field, and this surgeon requested me to come assist him in his office several times. The surgeon already had a company, a brand, an office, employees etc. At the time, I had just left my previous job and was in between work. I’ve always aspired to entrepreneurship and wanted to veer away from being someone’s employee. We agreed that I can launch my own plastic surgery brand, with a different name, it would stand as my company, I would build it over time, all capital investment would come from me, with the goal of growing the company via scaling our marketing efforts. As for the office, it would be sort of a “plug n play” arrangement, as mentioned above, the office, the staff, the certified office based surgical center, the surgeon, etc, everything already existed. So as leads started to come in from my brand, they would come directly to the office (or virtually) for a consultation with the already existing workflow. For obvious reasons, my goal was to develop a brand that would attract patients to want to come through my brand.
Upon starting, things took quite a while to pick up, as you would expect with any business. We also had the COVID shut down looming in shortly after I had already started and committed to this venture. Nevertheless, I continued to be patient, trying to grow it. Most of the investment went towards marketing, whether in web development, paid advertising on various social media platforms, monthly SEO fees, etc. For the first year, I was in the negative, hadn’t made any of my investment back. In the second year, things started to pick up, but I still was in the negative in terms of a return on my investment. Going into year 3 and on, is when things started to pick up and I saw a more consistent base of leads coming in through my brand.
My question is regarding permissibility in continuing with this venture due to fake reviews. Somewhere along the way of my efforts, it became clear that many, if not all, competitors would pay for fake reviews on google in order to grow their brand. At the beginning, I was against it and wanted to do things the right way, but as time went by, and I didn’t see revenue coming in, I gave in. I was also influenced by my SEO (search engine optimization) specialist who has been doing SEO for years, and had mentioned to me a few times in our calls, that all of our competitors are doing fake reviews, and outside of the moral question of right and wrong, it’s almost a part of the industry and in order to compete, I should do the same. Sometime along the way, I gave in and started doing fake reviews, specifically on google. I would like you to please bear in mind while advising me on this matter, that while the google reviews are fake, everything else is real. The reviews may make someone interested in doing a consultation with us, but the person consulting them, whether the doctor or someone else, is well experienced in plastics, patients are welcome to see the office, are welcome to ask and see the surgeons credentials (all are hung up at the office), the pictures that show the before and after results for patients that we use for marketing online are real as well, these pictures are placed on google, the website, and other social media platforms, ie Instagram, facebook. This is a real certified office based surgical center.
A this time, I’m about 5 years into building this company, and it has been my primary source of income. Although I have stopped fake reviews for well over a year now, I’ve still had a massive change of heart because of the fake reviews that are still up and have been feeling a strong sense of guilt. I have sought advice from loved ones, and I get mixed responses. Again, everything besides those reviews are real, I don’t want you to think this is some plastic “overseas” type scam that we hear about on the news, this is a certified office based surgical center in the city that we’re operating in, this is a real licensed plastic surgeon with over 10 years of experience, the office, the staff, etc all are real. My guilt comes from the fake reviews that attract people to want to come do a consultation and possibly move forward with us. As difficult it may seem, I’ve considered shutting the company down and moving on to find something else for work. I am married and recently had my first child so as you can imagine, the pressure of leaving a stable income from a company I’ve built over the last 5 years, while having always been an aspiring entrepreneur is very difficult and I’m having extremely mixed feelings about it. One day, I am thinking of all this, and another day my thoughts are, to leave this for the sake of Allah SWT, and that this is what is best from my dunya and akhira. I am very worried that the income that I use to provide for my family, is haram income, and that really effects my psyche and emotional state in my life. SubhanAllah, and Alhamdulillah, the company has been doing well lately, and I am so confused ad not sure how to feel about it, as this is rizq from Allah SWT, but what if its rizq in an impermissible way, then I ask myself why Allah SWT is allowing it to succeed, is it a test, should I leave it behind, should I stay the course and continue to try and grow it the right/moral way. It all tends to overwhelm my thoughts when I try to figure out how to proceed.
By the way, in case this is important for you to know, my brand doesn’t market any procedures that I, upon my research early on, considered haram. For example, anything that would change the original creation of Allah SWT, like buttock lifts, women who want to enhance their buttocks, I felt was not permissible Islamically so we do not market that. The surgeon I work with does do buttock lifts and there are times when patients come in through my brand and from the point of signing up until surgery day, they decide to add a buttock lift. (Not sure if this matters so I am including it in case it does). We market procedures such as liposuction, removing fat that was not previously there, certain procedures that help women whether post birth or just struggling with maintaining a healthy body, such as with loose skin, sagging breasts etc. In summary, procedures I felt were permissible, again based on some research I did early on prior to launching the brand, not exhaustive, if I’m being perfectly honest.
Lastly regarding the reviews, I imagine you may be thinking, why not just remove them? The reviews do play a part in our online rankings as company, removing them would be almost like starting over or taking a few steps back, some of these reviews date back over 3 years ago, and that matters as it gives historical data points for the brand online. Secondly, even if I could remove them, the reviews came from somewhere overseas, and the person who did them no longer has access to the emails. Again, I have stopped these reviews for well over a year now and have requested office staff to request from patients to leave real reviews.
With everything I mentioned above, please advise me, Islamically, what is the safer route, should I shut the brand down and seek provision elsewhere, or can I continue operating and growing the brand, so long as I continue not to add any additional fake reviews?
And please, if there are any additional questions or information you need to advise me properly, please don’t hesitate to ask. You can email me at [email protected]
Transactions
5th August 2024

Income earned from Uber.

Assalamualaikum

I did uber eats for 2 months not knowing that it is not permissible. i earned around 300-400$ dollars from it. As soon I got to know that it is not permissible, I stopped. But what should I do with the money I earned in that time. Should I give it away or what are my options?

Please help me out with this
Transactions
21st July 2024

Metal

the process for selling my gold to a cash for gold place is as follows: I send the gold to the company so they can inspect it, they decide if they want it, if they make me a buy offer and I accept it, they will send me the funds the same day. Now if we agree on a fixed price when I decide to accept the buy offer and they pay later on in the day, is this permissible?

Likewise, if I was to sell scrap metal that I collected to a scrapyard or metal recycler and then we agree on a price and at the same time of accepting the offer, they take possession of the metal and say they will pay me sometime in the same day? Is this permissible or does the transaction need to happen at the same time? If it’s not permissible ,is there another way method I can use to make it permissible ?

Transactions
13th July 2024

Online courses

Assalamualaikum, I want to sell coaching and a course online. Would it be permissible for me to only make the course part once people buy so I know if its in demand? The coaching will be available once they buy.

That way I would save alot of time and I would just say to the customer(s) once they buy, that the coaching they have access to immediately but the course part would be ready in the next 4 to 5 days and they can tell me if they want any specific modules to be added

Jazakallah
Transactions
2nd July 2024

Business partners

1.)does a business partner affect if your business income will be haram or not ? Let’s say someone had a non mahram female who didn’t cover up properly and the minimal communication barrier was broken in the sense that the male and female were close and talked about more than just business or someone had a business partner and he was a deviant who may mock Islam or someone who was a non Muslim and the two business partners already had a very close friendship, even if someone was to sell only halal products with all the partners listed above, would their income still be halal?

2.)if someone (person 1) wanted to do a specific business with one person (person2) and they told this person about the business idea and he agreed (person2) but person 1 did that specific business with a completely different person instead, will person 1s income be halal from that specific business or not (he sells completely halal products)

3.) Likewise if person 1 tells
Person2 that he’s interested in doing business with person2 and person 2 agrees but then person1 doesnt do it with person 2 and instead, person1, who behind person 2s back, collaborates on person3s business (person1 didn’t reveal the business idea to person 2, he simply said to person2 that he wanted to collaborate with their business) who is also doing the same business as person2 , will this make person 1s income haram for doing business with person 3 instead even though he vaguely verbally agreed to collaborate on the same business as person2
Transactions
26th June 2024

Making a condition that 30% of income from Masjid will go towards charitable works

"The individual intends to purchase land for a mosque, estimated to cost approximately £200,000, and intends to dedicate (waqf/وقف) this land for the mosque. However, there is a condition attached. After 4/5 years, once the mosque is established and funds start accruing through donations, etc., 30% of the money will be allocated to support the individual's madrassa for orphans in Afghanistan, following the clearance of all mosque-related expenses. In the event that the community does not agree to allocate this money to the orphan's madrassa, it can be directed to Afghanistan for various welfare projects, such as building schools, aiding the impoverished, reconstructing fallen bridges, or any other charitable endeavors."
Please note that the renovation will take place through donation and not this particular individual will do all the renovation process all by himself.
Is doing such thing ie; making such a condition that 30% would be spend there, is permissible according to Islam bearing in mind all the stated information. Please answer with evidences as answer will be shared with the community Insha'Allah later.
Jazakumullahu Khair
Transactions
17th June 2024

Investing in shares according to AAOIFI

Salam alaykum,

I started investing in shares a few months ago. I've already put in over 400 euros. To determine whether a company is halal, I use the Musaffa application, which claims to follow the AAOIFI (Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions) methodology. Can I continue to invest in this way? If not, should I sell everything immediately?

May Allah reward you for your efforts
Transactions
9th June 2024

Rulling on reselling

There was a football match in my place, and finding tickets for them is very tough. My friend's cousin works in an agency which buys these tickets in bulk, I advertised selling these tickets in my university and had many buyers, I had my friend's cousin who's working in the agency buy the tickets for me, the agency was selling the tickets at a profit price and they were well aware that I'm reselling it for my own profit. Example the agency got the tickets for $10, they sold it to me for $25 and I was selling it for $35, and even the customer who was buying the tickets is well aware about the original price as the original price clearly shows up on the ticket when I send them the details of it before they buy it. I made almost $2000 from it and wanted to know if the income here is halal or haram. If it is haram, what should be done with the money I have? Also my parents are unaware about this and I'm 19, am I supposed to tell them about it?