Fatwa ID: 02152

Answered by Molana Eunus Ali

Question:

Asalam u alykum

I have few questions regarding work,i will begin one by one.

1) I work at a retail mobile shop where i am given targets to reach.To ensure i hit my target my manager tells us to bundle products togather and display them as special offers. They will be two different products i.e Mobile and a Tablet, i will show the price combined and say its a special offer so the customer is compelled to purchase. Is that permissible or not.

2)Manager at work also tells us to add extra price on the upfront of phones so i can get th customer to take am additional product. i.e a iphone contract is 45.99 and free but manager will say tell the customer they have to pay £30 today but if the customer takes insurence for 12.99 i can knock it off. Is it permissible

3) When selling phones sometimes customer have credit which we can apply, if i say to the customer that if you take and additonal product i will knock off £100 of your cost. Is it permissible to use the credit on system to make customer get additional products

4)On existing customers we have £20 credit to use so if they get a 40.99 contract where they have to pay £50 upfront but if i knock off £20 making the upfront £30 but i still tell the customer its £50 because i add 2 sim for £20 is that permissible. Also if i keep the sims is that permissible.

Jazakallah khair,

Answer:

1. There are two possible scenarios:

1. The two items are advertised as a special offer bundle (meaning at a lower price than if they were to be sold individually) and in actual fact the price has been lowered to be sold as a special offer.

This will be considered a normal transaction and will be permissible.[1]

2. The two items are advertised as a special offer bundle that it is being sold at a discount price, however in reality the price has not been lowered or changed.

As there is a component of deception found, this type of transaction needs to be avoided.

It is narrated by Hakim bin Hizam : Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The seller and the buyer have the right to keep or return goods as long as they have not parted or till they part; and if both the parties spoke the truth (about the price or the item)² and described the defects and qualities (of the goods), then they would be blessed in their transaction, and if they told lies or hid something (regarding the price or item)[2], then the blessings of their transaction would be lost." (SaheehBukhari: 2079)

2. This type of transaction will be permissible as the customer has the choice to either pay the full amount fixed by the owner/manager or to purchase the additional item.

It is however important to note that generally speaking it is not permissible to sell insurance.[3]

3. The customers should be clearly informed that they are entitled to £100 credit which they could use towards their payment of the mobile phone.

If the customers are not informed of this and lead to believe that by purchasing an additional item £100 will be reduced from the total, it will be a deception which does not befit the characteristic of a Muslim.

Abu Hurairah narrates "The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) passed by a man who was selling food. He put his hand in it and saw that there was something wrong with it. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, 'He is not one of us who cheats."' (SunanIbnMajah: 2309)

Abdullah narrates that the Prophet stated “A banner will be set up for every traitor on the Day of Resurrection, and it will be said: ‘This is the treachery of so-and- so.” (SunanIbnMajah: 2982)

It is evident from the above mentioned Ahadith that deception and betrayal is prohibited in Islam and be avoided at all times.

Money earned through such impermissible means must be returned or given in charity.[4]

4. It will not be permissible to add items to the shopping list or to charge the customers extra without their knowledge.

The definition of a transaction in Islam is: the exchanging of a commodity with another with mutual agreement of the sale between both parties.[5]

Therefore, as the customer has not agreed to the purchase of two additional sim cards the transaction will not be permissible and cannot be kept personal use.

If however the customer agrees to the purchasing of the additional sim cards, the transaction will be permissible. In such case, it will be permissible to keep the sim cards for personal use with the customers permission otherwise not.

In a nutshell, there cannot be any type of deception, rather there needs to be transparency in all aspects of the transaction.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Molana Eunus Ali

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham