Yaser Birjas – TaSeel #50 Q&A
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Number 1, do auctions fall in the category
of increasing the price without intention of buying?
Sometimes we see this happening with the auction,
benefits of a good cause.
So, charity auctions are fine. There's nothing wrong
with that because everybody wants to give and
give generously, inshallah. If you're encouraging people to
give more, that's okay. But when it comes
to buying merchandise and buying,
items,
if you have no intention of buying it,
then don't even try to bid on it.
But overbidding just for the sake of hurting
the other person because, you know, I'm just
gonna hurt the competition, I'm gonna make him
pay more. That's not acceptable, that's not allowed.
If the profit,
if a profit at,
at 10 goes 20 times more for something,
but this is the norm. Is that considered
okay?
Like, you get something $10
and normally normally, for that particular item,
the profit is 20 times more, and that's
usually the normal thing. They give an example,
if you buy in bulk from China, for
example,
the manufacturer, they it cost them maybe 2¢,
5¢ probably.
Forget about the ethical aspect of sweatshops and
all that stuff and so on, that's a
different story,
but saying if it's a legitimate,
business
and
they they they make it for 5¢.
By the time it arrives at your door
it's for $1.
Can you sell it for $10? Can you
sell it for $20? The answer is yes,
like we said, as long as it's not
essential product should be okay inshallah, Subarika Wa
Ta'ala.
Is mandatory tip allowed for a restaurant owner?
Mandatory tip, you have to tip, if you
are gonna eat, you have to tip the
waiter on it. I don't know, I mean,
who is obliged to to pay the tip?
Is it
unless you're talking about,
when you have it already being put in,
in the price itself.
So, you receive basically your,
your bill and it has, everything is already
included.
So, in that case, would that be considered
acceptable?
Actually, Islamic speaking,
no,
no,
unless it's a common knowledge, you know that
you need to pay for the service
as well too, and they tell you that
it's gonna be included.
So, it's a kind of like a mutual
agreement. If you agree to this at the
beginning then it's okay, you cannot complain.
But, if you go to a restaurant and
you are not expected to pay to pay,
something and then suddenly there's something on your
bill, where is this coming from? Do you
have the right to object to it? The
answer is yes.
Is it recommended to allow returns if there
is nothing wrong with the product or or
should should a fee be charged? It's up
to you.
You could do a full return,
basically like do a full ikhala
or you could make it make sure that
if it's open you get, for example, 70%.
If it's not open, then you get the
full refund, for example. That's it depends.
Is it recommended to return a product if
you no longer need it?
Like you're borrowing it from Walmart.
Look, usually these big stores
they allow this policy,
so honestly if they allow you to return
something after using it I'll stay quiet about
it.
And don't think that they lose because they
already had the money when you purchased that
and the money is already circulating into their
own accounts, so they are already making the
riba off of it unfortunately,
and profit.
So, if the policy allows it, then it's
allowed.
Is it haram to be a make up
artist and to sell make up?
No. I mean, what is haram is is
if you're gonna be doing it online,
which defies the whole purpose of hijab to
begin with,
And, you're gonna be doing it online, exposing
everything online, but if you're doing it for
private parties,
for private, you know, kind of like gatherings,
that's different. It's okay.
So, how does 1 differentiate between the footra
and cognitive biases
or maybe even group think when you ask
others about a statement?
It's a first it's a first statement, like,
you know, because if everybody is thinking the
same way
and you already have your own understanding of
being Muslim against, let's say, specific culture, for
example,
So how is that considered fitra right now?
Well, I hope
that your group thinking as a Muslim
basically is based off of the the the
fitra. I hope so.
But if it's not,
and the ummah usually doesn't agree altogether to
something haram. You always find someone who will
be an outlaw says, you know what? That's
wrong.
If the whole Ummah agreed to something it
should be good. They cannot agree on something
that's haram.
So, from the ulama of hadith today, I
have heard of some modern ulama
that find some weakness in some hadith in
books of Sunnah
of the past like Al Bukhari and such
and such. Is there a way in this
and how should we work with these cases
or is it not valid to take from
these opinions about the Bukhari and so on?
Well,
there is has already been established at previous
Ijma'a from the whole ummah about Al Bukhari
and Imam Muslim. Not saying that they are,
you know, they're not humans, they are humans.
But there's an ijma, collective ijma among the
walaamah that these are authentic narrations.
Could that be some narrations might be questionable?
Yes. But overall it's settled already and that's
it. It has been accepted as part of
the full nourishes of all too inshallah.
So I would not I would disregard
criticism given to Bukhari and Muslim from that
perspective. Other books of hadith, the ulama did
not
did not put stipulation like Bukhar and Muslim
put in their books. So, yeah, there might
be some weak narrations there. That should be
okay.
How would you know that your fitra is
not corrupted by society so your own moral
compass is not reliable?
Al, knowledge.
Once again, we said the fuel of your
fitra and your insight is proper knowledge, and
the proper knowledge comes from the Quran and
the sun of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam. The more you are, the more you
are equipped with that knowledge,
the more your fitra will be aligned
with that which is right.
Is it permissible to give different prices of
product to different people based on their background?
Like when you go when you go shopping
in the Middle East, right,
if they know that you have an accent,
okay, this is an American, so they give
you a different price. And by the way,
have you seen it in restaurants, seriously, in
restaurants, in in Turkey, as a matter of
fact. I saw restaurants, you know, when you
when you're foreigner they give you a menu,
when you're local they give you a different
menu. So, what's the difference? It's the same
thing, but the price is different.
So when the locals they pay, they pay
the local price,
but you have to pay the the the
tourist price.
Permissible is that permissible islamically speaking? I mean,
that's part of the being unethical. I cannot
say it's haram, I cannot say it's haram,
but that's part of the ihsan if you
remember. So there's idol, there's furnace, there's
graciousness,
so that's part of being gracious that you're
gonna have to be fair with everybody.
So, is it okay to return used product,
for example, let's say you buy on a
specific,
platform
and usually they get you 30 days and
and you're gonna you use it and then
you wanna send it back. Is that ethical?
If their policy allows
it, you're fine.
If you follow a common and credible fatwa
that is ultimately
incorrect,
will you be sinful?
Sinful if you know that's already actually incorrect.
If you already know that's incorrect and you're
still following it, then, yeah, you are because
you know that you're following something wrong. But
if you don't and it's considered a valid
fatwa, well, honestly, I don't know what the
sheikh said, so I'm just following his opinion,
then you should be fine. But if you
already know it's wrong then you should avoid
it.
So regarding Nasir Halil Muslimin, I expect our
fair treatment in business applies towards Muslims and
non Muslims. Why does Nasir Halil Muslimin specify
Muslims specifically?
Because the speaker was a Muslim.
Imam bin Qudam
speaks in the Muslim community, the Muslim crowd,
so he says Nasih al Muslim.
So, yeah, basically for your brothers and sisters
in the community, that's what it means.
So, what about services in terms of pricing?
Does everything taught today apply to services, like
for example,
what if you believe you have a superior
service as an expert? Can you charge 400
when others are selling the service for a
100? Of course.
You value your service, you value your knowledge,
you value your expertise, you value your time,
so that's that's your price for it. It.
It's it's up to you. If people want
to sell it for adidas, that's fine. If
you believe, no, I'm not going to sell
it for that, I'm not going to occupy
my time for the same price, it's okay.
And again, people have the option, the kha'ar
to come to you or somebody else. It's
not like holding a monopoly or something and
essential.
In regards to Ihtikar, which is monopoly at
the level of international trade, would the same
outcome apply for Muslim countries to do so
to gain an advantage over non Muslim countries?
Now, that's a very, actually, very, general question.
It really depends on the circumstances.
Again, it depends on the circumstances because the
prophet
he did sometimes actually try to tighten
the flow of
of products and items into the society,
into the Mecca and so on. He did
that, so, so it really depends on the
situation.
What if you know that the defect cannot
be easily found?
Is it a responsibility in the seller to
still disclose? The answer is yes. If you
know that the merchant, the the, the mechanic
is not gonna find it, then what's the
point of sending to the mechanic? The whole
idea is sending to the mechanic to give
him the opportunity to find it for himself.
Women love to beautify places, it makes us
feel good and peaceful. Can we sell home
decor, wedding decor, party decor?
We didn't say it's haram.
You can do that if you want, that's
fine
but Imam Qudama says, look,
don't be too excessive in beautifying this world,
in this dunya. Make sure to whatever trade
that you have, have value to the akhir
as well too, but it's permissible.
Our deen encourages us not to make the
business,
our own focus, but what about
that having and owning successful business make us
stronger and more powerful community this day on
age? Of course, you need to be successful,
but that that business is in your hand,
not in your heart.
If it goes into your heart, that's it,
you're ruined. But if it's in your hand,
you can still control, hamdulillah, how much time,
how much effort, how much, you know, involvement.
You still have alhamdulillah control over. Don't let
it control you.
Suratulayl. I wanna ask about the second