Resolutions of Iftaa' Board



Resolutions of Iftaa' Board

Date Added : 02-11-2015

Resolution No.(1) by the Board of Iftaa`, Research and Islamic Studies:   
 “ Sharia Ruling on Lease Premium “

 

Question: What is the ruling of Sharia on lease premium and the money paid against that, and is it permissible according to the rulings of Islamic Sharia?
Answer: All perfect praise is due to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds; and may His Blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

Ijarah(hiring) is permissible in Islamic Sharia since the Prophet(PBUH) was sent to humanity  while people were leasing and taking on lease, so he permitted that. It is well known that Ijarah is a contract whereby two parties agree upon a certain benefit in return for a compensation, that is money.
Ijarah is actually purchasing a benefit, and it is permissible to conclude an Ijarah contract upon lawful benefits, so the benefit of the leased estate is the right of the lessee, and so he enjoys the right of staying in the estate upon which the leasing contract has been concluded. Islamic Sharia has given a lessee the right of staying and residing in the leased estate, so none has the right to drive him/her out of it, and this right has a financial value according to Islamic Sharia as well as custom.
If a lessee was driven out of the estate without being paid the value of that right(lease premium), he/she may not be able to find a similar one without paying substantial amounts of money.
A lease premium is an integral part of the rent that has been agreed upon by both parties(lessor and lessee); therefore, it is permissible that the lessee pays it to the owner as a part of the rent i.e. the value of the benefit. The lessee is also permitted to sell his right in this benefit and take the lease premium from whoever wishes to purchase it for a price higher, or  lower  than that which he had paid to the owner in the first place.
On the other hand, Muslim jurists  permitted employing such a method on the estates pertaining to Islamic Awqaf(endowments) during the tenth, ninth, and eighth  centuries (H). They passed a legal ruling which  states that the Awqaf administrator has no authority to drive a lessee out of an estate so long as the latter is willing to pay the rent agreed upon in the contract. This way, Muslim jurists have given the lessee of an Awqaf estate the right to remain in it and permitted him to receive a lease premium in case he wished to vacate the estate. By analogy, it is permissible for a lessee, in ordinary types of estates, to demand a lease premium so long as the law grants him the right to stay in the estate even after the expiry of the contact. The law permitted this as a regulative measure  meant to prevent injustice, and after consulting people of sound opinion and expertise; it is parallel to putting price tags on commodities to prevent traders from rigging prices.

It is a purely commercial transaction that  involves buying and selling beyond suspicions of Riba(usury), or unlawfulness; therefore, contracting parties aren`t considered sinful so long as the contract has been concluded with their mutual consent. It is also impermissible for any party to revoke the contract except with the consent of the other party.

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Summarized Fatawaa

What is considered a woman`s Awrah (parts of the body that must be concealed during prayer) while offering prayer, and is her foot part of it?

A woman`s whole body is considered an Awrah while offering prayer except the hands and the face. Thus, her foot is an Awrah as well. And Allah Knows Best.

A man donated a burial plot, but before registering it in favor of the Ministry of Awqaf and before burying anybody there he said that he didn`t want to donate it and planted it. What is the ruling of Sharia on this?

All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.

If he had endowed it as a cemetery, then he can`t take it back, even if he didn`t register it in favor of the Ministry of Awqaf. If he said: "I have endowed this plot as a cemetery, then it becomes an endowment." However, if he didn`t endow that plot-but it was his intention to do so-then he is allowed to back down. And Allah The Almighty Knows Best.

In life insurance with the Potash Company, enrollment is mandatory, and employees have the right to receive a cash amount from the insurance for surgeries and illnesses while employed by the company. Is the amount given by the insurance in this case permissible (Halal) or prohibited (Haram)?
 

Since the insurance is compulsory, then what the insurance company pays in return for medical treatment is similar to donation, and I pray to Allah The Almighty that this is lawful even if this service is deducted from your salary in return of it, so in this manner you take back some of the amount you paid in form of above treatment. And Allah Knows Best.

Is it true that whatever is dry is pure even if there was impurity on it?

The impure material object does not soil (make impure) anything else unless the impurity is wet and transferable. But, if the impurity is dry or non-transferable, then there is no problem. Fuqaha has stated that: There is no disagreement between Muslim scholars that when a dry impurity touches something dry it does not make the latter impure.