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Resolutions of Iftaa' Board

Resolution No.(50): "Ruling of Sharia on the Staff Provident Fund of a Shareholding Company"

Date Added : 27-12-2015

Resolution No.(50): "Ruling of Sharia on the Staff Provident Fund of a Shareholding Company"

Date: 2/5/1422 AH, corresponding to 22/7/2001 AD

We have received the following question:

What is the ruling of Sharia on the staff provident fund of a Jordanian shareholding company; and is the staff member subscribing to that fund obliged to pay Zakah in return for his savings in it?

Answer:

The Board is of the view that some of the investments undertaken by the above fund adhere to the rules of Islamic Sharia; whereas, others don`t. Therefore, profits made through lawful methods are equally lawful; whereas, those made from unlawful methods are equally unlawful.

Moreover, since subscribing to the above fund is mandatory, then there is no harm that every staff member subscribes to it because he has to make a living.

However, upon the collection of his claims from the above fund, including the profits, it is mandatory that every staff member investigates where they come from.

Therefore, those, which come from a lawful source of investment, are equally lawful.

Whereas, those which come from an unlawful source of investment are equally unlawful. The latter must be given to charity in order to get rid of the ill-gotten money.

However, if he couldn`t distinguish the lawful from the unlawful while knowing for sure that it is most probable that they include ill-gotten money, he may possess half of these profits on the basis that they are legitimate, and he should give the other half for charity to get rid of the ill-gotten money, unless he thought it is probable to be the other way around.

On the other hand, if he couldn`t tell the lawful from the unlawful while not knowing for sure that it is probable that they include money coming from an unlawful source, he may possess all of the profits as lawful money on the basis that Muslims` transactions are, in principle, valid and they are righteous people.

As regards the rule of Islamic Sharia on the Zakah of the savings of the staff member in that fund as well as that of their profits, the Board is of the view that he is obliged to give their Zakah once they reach Nisab (Minimum amount liable for Zakah) after one lunar year elapses over possessing them, in accordance with the opinion of the Maliki school of jurisprudence on the Zakah of debts. And Allah Knows Best.

 

Chairman of the Iftaa` Board, the Chief Justice, Sheikh Izuldeen At-tamimi

Dr. Wasif al-Bakhri

           Dr. Abdulsalam Al-Abbadi

            Dr. Mohammad Abu Yahia

        Sheikh Sae`id Al-Hijjawi

               Sheikh Mahmood Shewayat

                                             Dr. Yousef Ali Ghyzan Sheikh Nae`im Mujahid 

 

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Summarized Fatawaa

Is it permissible for household members to pool money for the Udhiyah and gift it to one of them?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
 
It is permissible for members of a household to pool their money together and gift the total amount to one individual among them so that he may offer the sacrifice (Udhiyah). In this case, the family members receive the reward for giving charity (Sadaqah), and the one performing the sacrifice includes them in the spiritual reward (Thawab).
 
Furthermore, slaughtering a single sheep (on one's own) is considered religously better than participating as one of seven people in the sacrifice of a cow or a camel. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

What is the ruling of Islamic Law on the prayer of zawal?

 

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
It is recommended (sunnah) to pray four rakʿāt — either with a single tasleem or as two separate sets of two rakʿāt — immediately following the sun's decline from its zenith (zawāl). This prayer is distinct from the regular Sunnah prayer of Ẓuhr (sunnat al-ẓuhr al-rātibah), as explicitly stated by the Shāfiʿī jurists.
It is mentioned in Nihāyat al-Muḥtāj: "The prayer of zawāl is offered after the sun's decline — so were one to perform it before that, it would not count. It consists of two or four rakʿāt and is distinct from the Sunnah of Ẓuhr, as is evident from the fact that it is mentioned separately after the regular Sunnah prayers, and it becomes a make-up prayer (qaḍāʾ) if a long period of time passes by customary reckoning... Al-ʿAlqamī stated: 'Scholars refer to this as the Sunnah of Zawāl, and it is distinct from the four rakʿāt that constitute the Sunnah of Ẓuhr.' Our shaykh said: Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī stated that among those who explicitly affirmed its recommendation was al-Ghazālī in al-Iḥyāʾ, in the chapter on devotional litanies, noting that there is no tasleem between them — meaning there is no break between each pair of rakʿāt."
The time of the sun's decline (zawāl) marks the very beginning of the time for the Ẓuhr prayer.
And Allah the Almighty knows best.

What is required of one who doubts the number of rakʿāt during prayer?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
If a person doubts the number of rakʿāt he has prayed, he should build upon the lesser number, as that is what he is certain of. He should then perform the prostration of forgetfulness (sujūd al-sahw) before the final salām at the end of the prayer. ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "When any one of you is in doubt during his prayer and does not know whether he has prayed three rakʿāt or four, let him pray one more rakʿah and then perform two prostrations while seated before the salām. If the rakʿah he prayed was a fifth, these two prostrations will make it even; and if it was the fourth, then the two prostrations serve as a humiliation for the devil." (Reported by Abū Dāwūd.)
It is stated in al-Muqaddimah al-Ḥaḍramiyyah — one of the foundational texts of the Shāfiʿī school: "If one doubts whether he has prayed three rakʿāt or four, he is obliged to build upon the lesser number."
However, if such doubt recurs repeatedly and reaches the level of obsessive whispering (waswasah), he should not build upon the lesser number in that case — rather, he should build upon the greater number. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

Is it permissible for the children of a deceased father to settle his debt from the Zakah (obligatory charity) money due on them?

It is impermissible to use the Zakah of one`s money for settling the debts of the deceased. However, children should settle the debts of their deceased parents out of filial piety. And Allah Knows Best.

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