Oh Allah, Grant me the tawfeeq to make Zikr. Aameen.

Darul Iftaais named after our Shaykh, Mufti-e-Azam, Faqihul Ummat, Hadhrat Mufti Mahmood Hasan Gangohi Saheb !"#$ %& '()* *

R a b i ` u l A w w a l | F e b r u a r y I S S U E #1 4 3 3 2 0 1 2 — 4 6

PROBLEMS - Why? When? How?Everyone faces some unpleasant and painfulchallenges in life.If one person is experiencing a serious maritaldiscord, another person is experiencing the pain ofdisobedient children. If one person is experiencingthe discomfort of demanding in-laws, another isexperiencing the threat of an angry son-in-law. Ifone is experiencing a financial difficulty, anothermay be experiencing a deteriorating healthcondition. The list of painful experiences in life isunending.If a person does not know the answer to thefollowing three questions:i) Why is there a problem?ii) Where did the problem come from?iii) How to deal with the problem?then the problem will lead to frustration. Theperson will then make inappropriate statements like“Why did Allah do this to me?” etc. At times duringthe height of frustration a person may even assaulthis ownself to give vent to his frustration. He mayeven assault his wife and children.The various challenges of life can be overcome bypondering upon verses 155, 156 of Surah Baqarah.Allah Ta’ala say:

The above verses answer all three questions.Q. Why is there a problem?A. Allah put us in various challenges of life totest our Iman and to see how we respond tothose challenges.Q. Where did the problem come from?A. If the problem is not due to one's ownshorcomings, sins etc. it just came upon a person,then it is a test from Allah.

And certainly, We shall test you with somedegree of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives andfruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sabirin (thepatient ones, etc.) Those who, when afflictedwith calamity, say: "Truly! To Allah we belongand truly, to Him we shall return."

(Qur'an 2:155-156)

Q. How to overcome the problem?A. Allah says, Be patient and exercise restraint. Say:

In essence, during difficulties, turn to Allah and makethe zikr of Allah. Yunus was trapped in three

darknesses. The darkness of the night; the darknessof the huge waves of the sea; and the darkness of thebelly of the whale.Outwardly, there was no way Yunus could be

relieved from such a difficulty. beseeches

Allah from within the belly of the fish.

While we adopt means to address our difficulties,making Zikr is an effective way of invoking the mercyof Allah. It is through the blessing of Zikr, Allahguides a person to the solution of his problems.Allah Ta’ala say:

An outstanding characteristic in the life of our piouspredecessors was making Zikr. This was their shieldagainst all challenges. A person who does not makethe Zikr of Allah is uneasy. A poet characterises theheart of such a person:

The poet attributes the empty and miserable feelingof the heart to the absence of Zikr.Allah says those that confront the challenges of lifewith the Zikr of Allah invoke the mercy of Allah andsuch people are guided.Take out some time every day to make the Zikr ofAllah and make dua to Allah after the Zikr. Duas

are most definitely accepted.

Inna Lillahi Wa Inna ilayhi R ji n.

…'There is no one worthy of worship except You(Allah).You are pure. I was among the Zalimeen (who went againstyour orders). 'We responded his prayer and saved him from

grief… (Qur'an 21:87-88)

Behold, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find content!(Qur'an 13:28)

Forgetting the Zikr of Allah is the death of the hearts of people.The physical body is a grave before reaching the grave

(Qur’an 2:157)

ā ū!

"Truly! To Allah we belong and truly,to Him we shall return." (Qur’an 2:156)

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afterZikr

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!"#$%&'(&)!"#$%&www.daruliftaa.net , www.askimam.org , 35 Candella Rd. , Sherwood, Durban, 4091. Ph:031 207 5772

The Darul Iftaa will be hosting The Shariah Compliant Business Campaign soon.

A: The common mode of dropshipping is:

The seller for example “A” advertises an item onwebsites such as bidorbuy or e-bay. “A” does nothave the item in his possession at that time. Thepurchaser “B” responds to the advert and places hisorder by paying the purchase price to “A”. Once “A”receives the order and payment into his account viaPaypal, “A” then places an order to the wholesalemerchant (drop shipper) “C” at a wholesale price.“C” then dispatches the merchandise to “B” while“A” keeps the difference of the listed price andwholesale price as his profit. This procedure ofdrop shipping is not permissible since “A” is sellingan item which is not in his possession.

The Shariah Compliant alternative is to do thetransaction through the model of “ ”. “A”purchases the item from the wholesaler “C” andthen make “C” his agent to deliver the item to “B”.The process would remain same except for that thefollowing information will have to be explicitlyadvertised:The Seller “A” would have to publicize in his

advertisement beforehand that he is not inpossession of the item and will arrange its deliveryonce the person placing the order has paid themoney.Complete description of the item being sold will

have to be advertised.The time duration for

delivery will have to be advertised.

A: Having complete ownership of one’s assets is arequirement for the assets to be “Zakatable”. Whenyou dispensed your money to the government in theform of tax, the money departed from yourownership. You had no possession of the moneyand you were not guaranteed a refund. Hence, youare not obliged to pay Zak h on the refundedmoney for the three years you did not havepossession of the amount. This refund received

Q: Many people use websites like“bidorbuy” and “ebay” for sellingitems through drop shipping. Is thedrop shipping process permissible?If not, how can it be made ShariahCompliant?

Q: SARS overcharged me tax. After protestingon the amount I received a refund after threeyears. Is there Zakat on the refunded mount?

(SunanTirmidhi #1233, Maktaba Ma’arif)

Salam

(Badai’ us Sanai’ 5/201, Darul Kutub Ilmiyya)

(Aljauhara Al Nayyirah Pg.218,Meer Muhammad Kutubkhana)

(ibid.)

ā

will be included in your present Zakatableassets and you will pay Zak h on the totalamount the next time Zak h is due onyou.

A: The build up to marriage is an experience of thrilland jubilation. When the marriage is solemnised, one'shappiness and delight is on the verge of brimming andtipping over. When the newlywed couple meet for thefirst time, words cannot describe the sweetness of thebliss, serenity, pleasure and elation tasted by the two.

If every day of the marriage can mirror the first dayof marriage, and every night reflect the first night ofmarriage, then the marriage will be a euphoricexperience on this world.

The gentleness, passion, love, tenderness displayedon the first day and night of the marriage should beportrayed throughout one's life.

āā

(Fatawa Alamgiri 1/175, MaktabaDarul Fikr)

Q: How can a husband and wifemaintain the level of love throughout the courseof their marriage?

Read more on this with 16 practical steps for asuccessful marriage on :

www.daruliftaa.net/General-Islamic/sparklove.html

Q: Is it permissible to write and post news & blogin a blogging site using a pseudonym (alias)?

Q: I own a petrol station. Is it permissible to keepthe petrol station open during Jum’ah time andsell petrol through the non muslim staff ? Will theincome earned at that time be permissible?Kindly explain the underlying principle of doingbusiness during Jum’ah time.

A: There are genuine reasons to withhold one'sidentity while interacting on the internet. However, ifthe position with which one interacts online is suchthat people have to rely on the person's integrity andstanding in real life, then it would be more prudent toidentify himself.

A:

In light of the above verse, the Fuqaha have ruled thattrade after the Jum'ah Azaan is prohibited. It delaysone from proceeding for Jum'ah. If a person does atransaction after the Azaan whilst proceeding for

Allah Ta'ālā says in the Quran,

#U... 'ل%ب#ي/ع# '4+I6J#4 'لله( Cك%ر)J CDل6ى ف6اس/ع#و/' 'ل%ج+مچ+ع#ة( CQ/لاير#و م(ن/ )Sل(لص1ل6ا #U)Vهن+و '6JCD Wم#ن+و' 'لذ(لايرن# 6GلايرZه#ا '"Oh you who believe! When the call to Prayer is made on

Friday, then hasten at once to the remembrance of Allah andquit all commerce. (Quran 62:9)

Q & A

Sign up on B.E.E.P at and be updated on business related issues.www.daruliftaa.net

Jum'ah and the deal is not a hindrance in proceedingto Jum'ah, such a deal is permissible. The objectionis against the delay in going for Jum’ah, and not tradeitself. (

)If a person closes his business during the Jum'ahsalah, this would be an expression of his reverenceand respect for the Jum'ah Salah. However, closingones' business during Jum'ah Salah is not acondition for the Jum'ah salah.Closing some businesses during Jum'ah may also notbe economically practical. For example, a Muslimowns a service station. Friday is the end of the weekand it is a busy period for taxis (kombis). If onecloses the service station at that time, the normalclientele will go elsewhere and not return in future.This can impact the overall turnover of the business.While we believe rizq is from Allah, we are also notrequired to abandon permissible means of onesrizq. If one closes his business at that time, that is hislevel of Taqwa but not a requirement in Shari'ah.It would be permissible that one proceeds forJum'ah salaah whilst his business is administered byhis non-Muslim staff. The income earned duringJum'ah time will be halal as there has not been a delayin going for Jum’ah Salah.

A: When a Qur'

.This is done to honour the Qur'an.Cds, DVDs and other electronic mediums are notthe same as a printed medium. Audio Cds like a vinylrecord (i.e gramophone record) make use of thegrooved linings (known as “pits” and “lands”). Thegrooves in a CD are digitally read by a laser and thenencoded to reproduce audio frequency.Similarly in flash disk drives, SD memory cards(including all variants), Data CDs and DVDs(including all different formats) and portable harddisk drive including many other forms of dataretention devices keep audios in many differentformats (mp3, mp2, aac, amr, au, ram etc). Howeverall these formats essentially retain a compressed

Durrul Mukht r wa Hashiya Raddul Muht r2/161

(Durrul Mukht r waHashiya Raddul Muht r 5/101; Fat wa Rah miyyah6/28)

ā ā

ā

ā ā ī

Q: Is it permissible to throw away CD's/ MP3'sor any other form of storage devices such asFlash drives, DVD's or iPods (that don't work)which contain recitation of the Qur’an?

ān copy becomes (so) old that it is nolonger legible, then it should be wrapped up (insome cloth) and buried like a (deceased) Muslim

form of raw binary data, which gets decoded to relayaudio frequency.If we were to microscopically view the data, we wouldnot see the Arabic in it. Hence the normal rules whichare attached to a printed Qur'an or Islamic materialwill not apply to these digital formats.It will be permissible to throw such devices and CDsaway provided that nothing from the Qur'an or fromthe names of Allah etc. is printed or displayed onthem. However, since these devices were used torecord the Qur’an, they should be respectfullydisposed of.(

)

A: The concept of shooting stars has been mentionedin the Qur’an. Allah Ta’ala says: “And indeed we haveembellished the lowest heaven with lamps(stars), andwe have made them (to serve) as missiles to drive awaythe devils, and we have prepared for them thepunishment of the blazing fire”.Before the prophethood of Nabi , the Jinn used to

freely eavesdrop without being expelled from theupper terrestrial realms. When Nabi was sent to theworld, the Jinn were barred from entering the upperterrestrial spheres. Whenever they would try toeavesdrop, they were pursued by a flaming/shootingstar. As Muslims, we have Imaan and firmly attest tothe unique subtleties and phenomenon mentioned inthe Qur’an. Scientists have recently discovered thatstars and meteors are the source of powerful electricwaves called “pulsars”.A meteor is the visible streakof light that occurs when a meteoroid enters theearth's atmosphere. As Muslims, we are taught tobelieve in every aspect of our religion even though ittranscends our senses and intellectual capacities.Kindly refer to the following link on the

website toviewtheentireFatwaaonShootingStars.

Durrul Mukht r wa Hashiya Raddul Muht r5/101; Fat wa Rah miyyah 1/320

(Qur’an 5/67)

ā ā

ā ī

Q: What is the basis of Shooting Stars in theShariah?

http://daruliftaa.net/General-Islamic/shootingstar.html

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A website dedicated entirely forwomen to be launched soon...

The Darul Iftaa aims to launch a website

to be run by women for women.Follow updates on :

www.idealwoman.org

www.daruliftaa.net

The Darul Iftaa sent out an email on its BEEP(Business Educat ional Empower mentProgramme) requesting people to forward theirbusiness achievements in order to inspire others.A l h a m d u l i l l a h , t h e r e s p o n s e s we r eoverwhelming. Hereunder are some uneditedresponses:

A brother from India says: I am currentlyworking at an engineering college as ademonstrator where I earn INR 45000 permonth. The principal source of Barakah in mybusiness is giving 2.5 % of my salary as charity tomy relatives who are in need of financial support.

A brother from Kenya says: I was initiallyemployed for about a year. Thereafter I joined mybrother in a joint commercial venture dealingwith car spares in which both of us earned anaverage of R40,000 per month. Thereafter, weprocured a dealership in car spares where weearned an average of R70,000 per month. Afterprocuring a loan from a Muslim brother, webegan importing cars from Japan. We now own apiece of land in the centre of town and earn anaverage of R200,000 per month. This is the graceof Allah Ta'ala upon us. However, in this worldof means, the following reasons could beattributed to our success.

1.

2.

Daily Zikr Majlis is held at Musjidus Saliheen, Sherwood after Fajr Salah - old Jamat Khana

A Major Concern ofThe Darul Iftaa

Alhamdulillah, Allah Ta'ala has blessed many families with successful businesses. It is unfortunate thatmany thriving empires came to a sudden halt and lose Barakah due to differences among shareholders.Many differences stem from unethical business behaviour. For example, one shareholder takes morebenefit and privileges from the business than others, or one shareholder prefers his children in thebusiness over others etc. In many instances, shareholders square up in courts.In order to maintain the Barakah in the business, the Darul Iftaa strongly recommends two things:

1) Succession plan2) Adopt strict regulatory frameworkThe Succession plan is important to mould young and upcoming members of the family to take chargeand promote the business.A strict regulatory framework will assist in controlling unfair and unethical business behaviour. This will

help maintain family unity and Barakah in the business. This service is provided by The Darul Iftaa.

1. Working hard.2. Unity in the family.3. Avoiding interest.4. Extending an open hand to the poor.

3.

4.

A brother says: My father would toil dailywithout coming home for lunch; he would be thefirst one to leave the house and last one to behome. From among all his brothers, he never usedto overspend on the family despite having themoney. He invested the money that he saved.

A sister from Thailand says: I am a woman inniqab and due to circumstances, charged with theresponsibility to support my children. I work fromhome where I import health and beauty productsfrom China and sell it locally online. My clients arewomen. I started from zero and today,Alhamdulillah, after three years, I have a thrivingbusiness. I regularly donate in charitable avenues.Last month, I donated money and goods to floodvictims after a massive flood took place in mycountry. I normally earn between 50 000 Baht to70 000 Baht per month. I regularly pray twoRakaat of Salaah and ask Allah Ta'ala forassistance. This greatly helped me and gave meconfidence that my business venture will be totallysuccessful with the help of Allah Ta'ala.

B.E.E.P (Business Educational Empowerment Programme)

Latest from The Darul IftaaMake your lease agreement and employment contract Shariah Compliant.

The Darul Iftaa has prepared basic guidelines on lease contracts and employment contracts.Please check out :

www.daruliftaa.net/Business-Contracts/employmentandlease.html

Or contact The Darul Iftaa to obtain a copy.