Yaser Birjas – Truthfulness In Business
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AI: Transcript ©
If there is one quality
you would like to have
about a merchant, a business person, to deal
with them over and over again, what would
that be? Fairness.
Fairness.
Honesty.
Being truthful to you. Right?
You buy something from them, they're truthful.
They look after your interests as much as
theirs as well too.
So let's see what the prophet tells us
about this matter here. Hadith number 59,
the
book of truthfulness.
One of the most important principles
in business and in trade.
Because if honesty
and truthfulness
is out of the market, what happens to
that market of Jamal?
Falls apart.
No one's gonna buy. No one's willing to
to even take any kind of risk with
anybody who's a liar.
I don't wanna be cheated.
I don't wanna be taken advantage of. I'm
gonna go and say, hey. How much is
this? It tells you $100. Will Allah hit
a $100,
and you go, you put your $100 in
there. You go to the next store, it's
$50.
And then eventually that creates, of course, mistrust
away. So the prophet says in this hadith,
He said,
both parties in business in a business transaction
have a right to annul to annul it
so long as they have not separated.
So,
What what is the what do we call
this these days in mind? What's the,
the concept of this today?
Return policy.
The return policy.
Back then, the return policy was was how
long?
As long as you're still in the in
in in the same the same place.
For example,
you bought something from somebody. Alright?
And you paid the money for them.
What happens there in the mind of a
of a,
of a buyer in that moment? What do
we call that?
There's there's a term for it. Remorse. Bar's
remorse.
Buyer's remorse. You bought something just like, oh,
man.
Do I need it? If my wife says
about this, she's gonna kill me. Right?
So what are you gonna do? You're gonna
try to negotiate with the business person. Hey.
Is there any way we can and all
this this, you know, or revoke it and
so on? This is called an Arabic language,
And the prophet
allowed people to do,
and he gave people up
to 3 days.
You guys have macha'l. 90 days over here.
Sometimes, you know, 30, sometimes indefinitely. As long
as you bring the box,
bring the receipt,
you're good to go even after a year.
Whatever. Right?
Back then, they would say 3 days or
at least the prophet in this high, he
says.
Now as long as you're in the business
transaction and you did load everything, you're still
in the same place, you do have the
right to revoke that business,
transaction and say, you know what? I changed
my mind. I need my money back.
And that business person has to accept that,
clearly.
Now
if before you leave, you would like to
extend that,
you have up to 3 days. Says, hey,
look, I I need to take it home.
I'm gonna have to try it. I'm gonna
have to show it to my wife, to
show it to my husband, whatever that is.
Right? So, okay. You have up to 3
days, and you bring it back. Bring it
back as it is, not used. In this
case, that's allowed.
And you find a big sign up there
that says,
sales are final.
No exchange,
no return.
How many of you would there buy from
that store in your mind?
I wouldn't dare much really because I don't
wanna make take that risk right now.
So, therefore, we go to somebody who's willing
to give us that option of and and,
revoking that deal. So the prophet now is
con continuing the statement of.
If they both were truthful with each other,
both truthful with each other. So the biz
the the the seller,
when he says, look, I really, really got
the it's on me, it's $50.
I'm just getting $20 off of you. That's
it. $70.
So if this man is telling telling the
truth, Allah will put Barakah in that cell.
What if now is the buyer who's who's
telling the the seller, said, look. Listen.
All what I have is those $50.
Can I get it for $50? He goes,
sure. And as he was still getting the
$50 out, marshal, a $100 came out of
the other pocket.
So now this now the buyer is the
one who's lying.
So even if you got that and you
thought you made a good bargain from this
man, Allah will take the barakah out of
this.
Because as Muslim, we believe it's not just
about being clever in business, it's ima. There's
something called barakah.
Something called barakah. That it's not something you
touch.
That's something Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, will put
for you in the business, in your money,
in your wealth, in the benefit from this
from this item, in the the
the life of this product that you bought.
So many ways Allah subhanahu will increase the
barakah of that trade.
If they both were truth,
and they explained everything, like if there's defect
in this issue,
something to be to be worried about, or
maybe explain how to take care of things
and so on. If they did all of
that,
Allah subhanahu will put barakah for them in
their cell.
However,
if they conceal, which means if they know
there is something that should be exposed,
but they're concealing it, taking advantage of the
other person right now.
And they lied about what they're saying.
The barakah of that transaction
will be blotted away. We will just go
out go out.
Subhanallah.
Again, my dear brothers and sisters, whenever you
go out, I know that the market here
is all about trying to beat, you know,
the other party as much as possible.
Make the best the best bargain.
Yeah. But it also has to be fair
with it. It had to be honest and
had to be truthful about it.
If that honesty and truthfulness is taken away
from the transaction,
there is no barakah. You might get that
product,
but god knows how it's gonna be beneficial
to you in this dunya and even in
the akhah. So make sure whenever you deal
with people, be truthful and be honest.
Any questions,
No.
Yep.
So if you're selling your car
and your car you know that your car
has a problem.
So the buyer is asking you, is there
any problem in the car?
If you say no, then you're lying,
and that's not allowed.
But if you say instead of saying no,
not to lie, and you don't wanna say
yes either to lose the business with this
man, so what do you say to the
merchant person? I said, look. Don't take my
word for it. I'll give you 24 hours.
Go to this mechanic, one of the mechanic
of your choice,
show it to them, let them inspect inspect
the car for you, and you make your
decision.
If you did that and they did take
it to a mechanic or they didn't, but
you give them 24 hours, then you're free
of liability.
Islamic law, you're free of liability. You didn't
lie. You didn't hide anything, and you gave
them the option to go and find out
about every defect that is in the car.
So in this case, you're free of liability.
You become liable if you don't say anything
and stay quiet, meaning you don't give them
a chance to inspect the car. Like I
said, look. I mean, it is as you
see. You look at it. You like it.
Take it.
Or you could tell the person
the car is sold as is.
You know, when you go sometimes, you buy
some used cars, they have that label as
is.
What they're telling you, I'm not liable for
it.
You bring your mechanic with you, let them
inspect the car for you, and then you
decide decide on yourself. So there is nothing
wrong with that.
Now let's turn.
That's a very good point. When it come
to the, the option to revoke the deal
right now, is it only for the buyer,
or can the seller also change his mind?
The seller can change his mind as long
as we're in the same place.
Let's say you sold something.
So we have a buyer's remorse, and we
have also a seller's remorse.
Because sometimes the seller is like, you know
what?
Actually, I I think I I undersell that
that that product.
So I said, look. Listen, man. I mean,
I know that we made a deal, but
if you don't mind, we're still still in
the store. I need the thing back. I'll
give you your money back. He has the
right to say that, and the buyer should
actually comply.
But if he left
if he left once he leaves, khalas. It's
final.
Yes.
No.
So if the seller sells you the car,
and he honestly did not know that there
was any problem with the car.
But then the buyer,
2 weeks later,
he finds a problem with it. Something is
broken. It's leaking, whatever that is. Does the
buyer have the right to go back to
the seller and, take his money back? The
answer is it depends.
If that defect
was old enough to be at the time
of selling the car,
then, yeah, you have the right to go
back and say, look, man. I mean, this
car is broken.
I need at least, you know, allowance right
now from this. Like, give me a few
$100. I can I need to fix the
car?
So in this case, yes, that he has
the right to go back to him. Now
does he, does the buyer the seller owe
him that money or so on? It becomes
an issue of of, an ethical matter right
now. Look, when I sold it to you,
I had no idea that the car had
any problem.
But if there is no way to to,
to decide if the defect happens after the
sale
or existed before the sale. So if it's
not a preexisting effect, obviously, then in this
case, there's no liability on the on the
seller.
I mean, we didn't know there was anything
wrong with it, and it doesn't seem to
be something old. It's something new. So in
this case, the seller has no liability
to pay back
anything. Yes?
So what about if you buy something from
Costco, for example?
And tells you, you know, it's a lifetime,
Alright? Are we allowed to accept that?
I mean, that's fine. That's their choice.
Now what about Muslims go buy things just
to use it at home and then send
it back again to the store?
Right? Who didn't do it? Right? You go
camping, so you buy some gears and just
bring it back again when you're done, because
I don't wanna use them again.
So, frankly,
if the store policy allows it,
then it's okay for you.
From a halal haram point of view. Look,
from a halal haram point of view, as
long as that's mutual agreement, and the store
has no problem with that. They say, look,
we don't we don't mind it because they
know their policies.
Their money is already generating,
in interest and will profit for them somewhere
else. That's number 1.
Number 2, anything that is returned, it actually
boxed back and shipped back to the to
the,
to the seller.
Or it is sold to a third party
and claiming this as loss in their taxes
anyway. So they're making their money. Don't worry
about it.
They're making their money somehow.
So if the store allows it, then it's
okay. But if the store doesn't allow this,
you can't do this.
Like, I know I've I've heard about some
Masha'allah international students.
They've been using the same,
trick with a TV for
years.
Like every year, they used to buy that
TV and by the end, right before
the return policy ends, they go return that
set and then buy another one with the
exact same amount.
So they've been using the same $50 for
the past, maybe, 50 years, brother.
Recycling. So that is definitely is not right.
Absolutely
not
right.
Yes.
So is this is there anything wrong with
you buying something with the intention of returning
it, knowing that you're not gonna keep it?
I'm just buying this hammer just to for
that nail in in the room. I just
wanna hit it
and bring it back again to the store.
So if you have the intention to return
that, it goes back again to the policy
of the store.
If the store has no problem with that
return policy, that's okay. From from a halal
haram perspective. Okay?
But now for my matter
of meaning a piety of the heart, I
mean, usually when you buy something, the file
the sale is supposed to be final. Unless
there's a reason for it to be any
kind of notified and so on. Allahu 'alaam.
Yes.
Say it again.
If the seller backs out with the intention
to sell it for a higher, price. Is
that what you're saying? As long as we're
still in the the same session and the,
that's fine.
But if once you separate and you go
home, they can't call and say, hey. Could
you bring it back? I wanna, own it
back again. We're done.
If the 3 days agreement is for you
to return it as a unless you say,
look. You you test it out, and I'll
check it out as well too. If I'm
happy if I'm happy with it, I will
keep I will,
fulfill the the the obligation. Otherwise,
I might take it back from you. If
that's part of the agreement, then you have
the 3 days as for both parties.
But usually usually, that is given to the
buyer more than the seller.