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Session Details
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| Guest Name |
Dr. Monzer Kahf
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| Profession |
Scholar in Islamic Economics & Financial Expert
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| Subject |
Ramadan Financial Issues
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| Date |
Tuesday,Sep 8 ,2009
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Time |
Makkah
From...
14:00...To...
15:30
GMT
From... 11:00...To...12:30
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Host
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| Answer |
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Brothers and sisters, the session has already started. You can submit your questions. Please, make your questions short and clear so as to help us answer all your questions.
Yours,
Islam Online Fatwa Editing Desk.
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| Name |
Nasser
- India
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| Profession |
Admin
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| Question |
Dear Scholar, assalamualaikum,
Nowadays Islamic Banks also offering Million Draw schemes claiming it is Sharia compliant. Recently one such scheme has came out that is on opening a Mudharaba based- investment accounts and keeping AED 20,000 will make account holder to participate in draw for mega prize of 2,000,000 AED and small prices in biweekly basis. Please see the link. http://ghina.adib.ae/sharia.htm
I would like to know if investing in such account and receiving prizes if selected is permissible and halal.
Thanks and regards,
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| Answer |
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Investing in these account is permissible because it is in fact Mudarabah and Shari'ah compliant. It is also permissible to give prizes to investors in these accounts from the angle of advertisement and promotion. You may know that the excessive use of any idea may be inappropriate. I Agree with you that while giving prizes for promotion and public relation objectives is permissible, the large sums of such prizes and their excessive use may make them very undesirable or even prohibited. It actually becomes prohibited when the main gain of the account becomes the chance to gain a prize. The OIC Fiqh Cademy rules that bonds that are issued for the gain of a chance to win a prize are considered interest-based.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
Layla
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Salam alaikum,
My question is regarding taking interest in Islam. I have had the same bank account which takes interest for about 4 years but I have only been Muslim for about 1 year. I have tried my best to find an Islamic bank and I have been to all the other banks and asked if they could take the interest off or give me an account without interest. There are two banks which offer this but unfortunately not mine, I then tried to change accounts but as I am not working at the moment they will not give me the account so the only option is to keep this account with interest for the meantime until I can get Islamic account or to not have an account at all which would be difficult as I receive benefits and use the account for payments such as college and food. I am aware interest is haram but in this situation what should I do? I try to give any interest money to charity but I know it is better not to take the interest from beginning.
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| Answer |
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Keep trying to move to an Islamic bank and until you succeed In ShaAllah you should continue giving the earned interest to Muslim charity because it is not owned by you according to Shari'ah
Allah Almighty knows best.
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Magda
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| Question |
May I fast if before Adhan for Fajr I did not take shower after major impurity?
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| Answer |
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
This is a general not financial question, but the answer is yes, you fast and then take shower for praying Fajr.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
Misbah
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Question on Software Development for Insurance Companies. Assalam-o-Alaikum, We are an offshore software development company and have been working with foreign clients who develop and host software applications for insurance companies. The software we develop covers all aspects of insurance business (personal and commercial lines) and generates insurance agreements (proposals, policies etc.) In some cases, we also develop code that generates premium financing (interest calculation) documents. Knowing that both interest-based transaction and insurance agreements are not in accordance with Sharia practices, is it permissible for us to write such software? Although we are not involved in any forbidden transactions ourselves, are we involved in a sinful act based on this ayah: "Help one another in righteousness and piety and do not help one another in sin and transgression." (al-Ma'idah 2). Jazak Allahu Khairan for your consideration, Barak Allahu Feek
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
We should make a distinction between a software that is specific for a Haram contract and one that is generic in a way that it can be used for Haram transaction or others. Developing a software that is specific for writing interest-based contract and cannot be used for other permissible contracts is not permissible. For insurance, the ruling is a little different because Insurance is not unanimously taken as Haram, there are very respected scholars who argue that insurance is permissible if it is clean of interest. Actually all general insurance are not interest-based and only one kind (unfortunately the most common) of life insurance is interest-based. Therefore writing a software for insurance companies is not Haram based on the contract itself being controversial.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
Mahmoud
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| Question |
Salamu aleykum! If I had emission of semen due to foreplay, without actual sex, what should I do? May I Offer kaffarah? And if I have to fast 60 days, should they necessarily be consecutive, even without a day of break?
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Please ask it in a general session. This session is for financial questions only.
Sorry for any inconvenience.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
Mohamed
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| Profession |
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| Question |
I forgot about the beginning of Ramadan and missed 5 days. What should I do?
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Please ask it in a general session. This session is for financial questions only.
Sorry for any inconvenience.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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Marawan
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Assalamu alaykum. I have a question regarding copyrights. Even though I am somewhat familiar with the Arabic Language, I am forced to learn my Islam through English. This has made me miss out on the works of great scholars. Recently however, I found a website that translated some books I have long sought to read, I found the translated works of Al Qurtubi, ibn Kathir, Qutb and even Zainab Al Ghazali's Return of the Pharaoh. I downloaded them. I can't tell you how happy I was, until later, when I realized that there was no copyright permission. In fact, the website justified this by saying that Islamic work should be for free. Even a layman like myself knows this is ridiculous, all authors and publishers have the right to charge for writing and putting together books. So I have two questions. Can I go ahead and read these materials for personal knowledge, or should I find the publisher and pay them the price they charge for these books? And what is the best course to take if I have downloaded a book for free but cannot find its publisher. All the best, and Ramadan Kareem
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
When you download from a web that allows it free, you have the right to download and use for personal not for commercial use. If there is an issue of copyright, it is a matter of concern of the owner of that website. But most likely these books are made free for download most of them are financed by government or charitable institutions that aim at providing them free of charge; there are a lot more on the internet for free downloading. I think you should feel comfortable with taking your copies. A worry on copyrights comes if you download materials that is not normally allowing it and you use sophisticated method to break their codes.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
Hind
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| Profession |
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Dear Sir, peace upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Is a person entitled to his or her salary, if he or she came to a private school to teach on a specific day, but found that his or her former pupils had been transferred to other classes by the person in charge? The teaching person understood to have an agreement with the person in charge, whereas the person in charge said, that when he said, that classes would resume in this week, it was a general statement. He offered to pay the salary for the specific day. Peace upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
If there is a contract the worker is entitled to the salary if he/she makes himself/herself available for the job whether or not the other party gave him/her things to do or not. The contract determines the relation and once the worker makes his/her time available to the contracted job, he/she deserves the contracted salary. It seems from this case that there were vague statements that create different understandings. A compromise based of being easy with one another is the best solution.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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RWZ
- Singapore
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Dear scholar,
Here's a couple of questions I would like to address to you, it involves mostly about zakat:
- What if the household's breadwinner is the wife, should she pay zakat fitrah on behalf of his family or should the husband do it?
- How do we calculate past years' zakat maal? Do we calculate on the corresponding year's nisab (which is the price of gold on that time) or do we base our calculation on the current nisab (the day of the zakat payment)?
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Zakatul Fitr is due on the person who actually provides for the expenses of the family, if it were the wife, then she is required to pay it.
For the Nisab, you should notice it does not determines an exemption, it only determines whether a person is Zakatable or not. For gold and silver items, I go by the weight that is mentioned by the Prophet, peace be on him. For other items I do not agree with any proposition that makes Nisab determined by speculators in the New York Gold Exchange. My estimation of Nisab is the equivalent of US$ 1500 in these days. And if Zakah is not paid when due in the past, take today or past years, it makes very little difference that does not affect really to any substance because several years ago my estimation of Nisab was about 1000 Dollar.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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Muslimah
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Dear Sir, peace upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Is there zakah on a piece of land that is currently not used for an economic purpose? Peace upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
If it held until its value increases, this is an investment property and that is an economic use that makes it subject to zakah. But if it is held to construct a residence in the future, it is not subject to Zakah.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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MA
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Aslamo alaikom, I live in Egypt and recently I bought a certain reference book (legal copy, not pirated). On the book there was a sentence "This book is not for sale outside India, Bangladesh, (some listed Asian countries..)". Also, on the back of the book, there was a similar sentence that this book is not for re-export outside the listed countries (that are consigned with the publisher). This edition of the book is special, of low cost for those countries. Is it ok to use the book for personal education (not for profit), or do I have to buy the copy that does not have restrictions for sale in Egypt? Thank you very much.
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
If it is available for sale in Egypt, it is of course permissible to buy and use. It is also possible that it came on personal level from any of these countries. I believe that what applies to these countries should also apply to Egypt because it is not much better off than these countries. Besides Having it available in Egypt does not make it pirated
Allah Almighty knows best.
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Saad
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As-salamu alaikum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuhu. Respected scholars, we are an Islamic children book and toy producer based in Europe and we would like to ask you about the Islamic ruling for talking dolls (dolls that speak some Islamic phrases and duas). Is it permissible to produce and sell such a product? Jasak Allahu chairan. as salamu alaikum wa rahmat Allah
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Yes, it is permissible to produce these dolls and sell them. Don't we have talking machines (radios and TVs)? What may raise a flag is having dolls in human sizes and for non-children use.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
islam
- Malaysia
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| Question |
Salams,
I would like to know if interest money we gain from commercial banks (where I live, there is no Islamic bank) can be paid for zakat? Or should we exclude it from our zakat payment?
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
If you are in Malaysia, there are several Islamic banks there! Anyway, earned interest is not considered yours from Shari`ah point of view, it must be given to Muslim charity and not let mingled with you own money. You cannot pay Zakah from it and you should not include the amount of earned interest in the Zakatable assets that you calculate zakah on because it is not yours.
Allah Almighty knows best.
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| Name |
amjad
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Asslamu alleykum,
1) If I buy land or property for long term as an asset , do I need to pay zakah?
2) If I have land inherited from parents, do I need to pay zakah?
3) If I buy a land for selling, do I need to wait one year to pay zakah?
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
All the above are investment and are subject to Zakah except if the intention is to use the inherited land for building your own or family residence
Allah Almighty knows best.
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Abdelbari Mokhtar
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Can I make my zakah on money payment plan? I mean, I calculate my zakah yearly, and I give it to a certain charitable organization that takes this amount over a period of one year, for example, each month they take a certain amount. Someone told me that I cannot do that since I won't be able to calculate my zakah properly for the next year, and the money will not be in my possession for a hawl. Can you please explain if it is possible or it has to be given one shot?
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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Zakah is due for payment by the wealth owner on the 354th day after he got Nisab for the first time and every 354 days then after. Delaying its payment with no valid reason is sinful and must not be done by a Muslim.
If you pay your Zakah on the due date to a trusted Muslim Charity but then it uses it over a period of time, it is permissible for the Charity to do so in accordance with its distribution plans but not for you as a payer.
But you can always start payment during the year in advance for Zakah that is due on the coming 354th day. Then on the due date you make the calculation and pay only the difference. This advance payment does not affect the calculation of Zakah because you only use the concept of Nisab to determine whether you are subject to zakah or not. But you should not dichotomize your assets, you add all items together and you do not hold a separate Nisab of Hawl for each item alone. On the 354th day you calculate all what you have then including money that you got the day before (of course you deduct any money that is committed to payment of debts or personal and family expenses).
Allah Almighty knows best.
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Editor
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In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Brothers and sisters, we are so sorry for not answering all your questions because the time is over. We apologize for any inconvenience. Do keep in touch. Join us in coming sessions.
Yours,
Islam Online Fatwa Editing Desk.
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| All Fatwas published on this website (Islamonline.net) represent the juristic views and opinions of eminent scholars and Muftis. They do not necessarily form a juristic approach upheld by this website. Click here to read Full Disclaimer. |
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