Dear Brothers/Sisters,

Thank you very much for joining us in this Fatwa session. We would also like to thank our guest, Imam Mustafa Umar, for answering the questions directed to him. You will find the answers to your questions below. 

Q:

So the University is a private Christian university but I am only working as a bookstore seller and they do not sell the Bible or stuff like that. It’s mostly only textbooks and school apparel. There are few Christian magazines but they aren’t something that anyone really buys. So can I work as a book seller in such a university. They do have a mandatory Christian class but I am not a part of that and only sell normal subject books.

A:

The general rule when it comes to working in a place like this is to ensure that you are not promoting anything that is against the teachings of Islam.

The situation, as you have described, seems pretty clear that this job is fine because you are not promoting or encouraging the Christian religion, especially since most of these students chose to attend a Christian University in the first place.

Your situation is completely different from someone who is selling and promoting Christian missionary literature in a mall, for example. So it is fine for you to work in this setting.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Q:

A Unknown Dog Smelled My Friend’s Shoe.
Didn’t lick.just smell it.
What should we need to do?

A:

There is nothing to do. A dog smelling a person does not affect your wudu or require anything to be cleaned off, since there is no transfer of saliva.

The majority of Muslim scholars have said that the saliva of a dog is impure and must be washed off before prayer. Since it did not lick you, you do not need to do anything.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Q:

Assalam o Alaikum

My father married to my mother and got 2 sons and 2 daughters. Then he divorced my mother in 2010.

In 2019, he married a divorcee woman who has 5 children from ex husband but no child from my father. My father died in June 2022.

No inheritance was done when the step mom died few days ago….she could not inherit from my father’s property , money and pension

Question is does the 5 kids of our step mom from ex husband will get any share of our father’s money , property and pension still?

A:

Wa alaykum as salam,

The five children are step-children of your father, so they do not inherit. The only way they would inherit anything is if your father left a wasiyyah (bequest) indicating that he is leaving something for them, which cannot exceed 1/3^rd of the estate.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Q:

Can a woman during menses read islamic books other than Quran?

A:

Yes, a woman may read any other Islamic books during her menstrual cycle, since they are not Qur’an. Even if there are some verses of the Qur’an inside those books, they are still not considered to be the Qur’an and therefore she may read them.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Q:

Can Muslim use hair oil with alcoholic content 2.2 %v/v? It’s not permitted

A:

The alcohol contained in hair oil is most likely synthetic alcohol, which is pure. Only alcoholic drinks like wine and beer are impure, and these are almost never mixed into hair oil. So it is fine to use this hair oil.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Q:

A married woman attributes the child of her adultery to her husband and repents, this creates many sins and makes joke about Islam and breaks the trust of men on wife and Islam. How do you approve this Fatwa?

A:

I do not understand your question. Perhaps you are asking about the hadith where a woman committed adultery and are referring to that as a fatwa? I cannot give a clear answer until I understand where the problem is.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Q:

I want to start a photo studio where i have some function like printing photos of non mahram or editing these photos a little bit and also i might have to talk to them. So, should i start the business? Will it be permissible in Islam? And for information in my area women and girl Don’t wear hijab properly sometimes. And also some no Islamic religion women may take service from me. Will it cause any fitna to me? Cause i am afraid of fitna most.

A:

It is not haram to do this business as long as you avoid immoral pictures like naked people. You are allowed to look at the face, hands, and feet of women. Try not to look at the other parts. If you find yourself staring too much and it is tempting you a lot, then it is better to avoid this and have someone do it, or hire another person (preferably a female) to process the pictures that are tempting for you.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Q:

Is this disbelief?

I watch movies that contain false gods, and magic etc. I enjoy them and talk about them with my friends would this be committing shirk or kufr? I am scared.

A:

It is important to focus on the right question: do I have to, or should I, avoid movies with anti-Islamic content such as this? That is what you should ask yourself.

The answer is: watching a movie where someone is praying to an idol is not intrinsically forbidden in Islam, since looking at an idol worshipper in real life would be forbidden too. However, movies have a strong psychological influence and can desensitize false beliefs for you, or even make you attracted to them.

If you notice that happening at a small level, you should avoid watching and discussing those movies. If it happens on a larger level, then you must stop watching and discussing those movies, because they can lead to shirk or kufr.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Q:

I’m a teenager with undiagnosed Ptosis and I’m 100% certain I have it. My eyes are severally uneven and people around me lie and tell me they are even. It affects me a lot and I was wondering if it was haram for me to receive surgery to even my droopy eye. I researched about it and heard that Ptosis could affect my vision in the future but I’m not certain.

A:

Any surgery for beautification is not allowed since it is considered to change the nature that Allah created people with. It is viewed as a type of mutilation of the body, even if that is the latest beauty fashion.

However, if there is a genuine need which cannot be accomplished another way, such as if someone’s nose was damaged, it is allowed to surgically restore it to the way it was, since this is not changing the nature of a person but restoring it back.

The same is the case when getting braces for your teeth: it is restoring the crooked or unaligned teeth to the way they should have been.

Likewise is the case with laser eye surgery: it restores your eyesight to what it should have been. So it will be allowed to get this surgery if a competent doctor confirms that you have this condition.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Q:

Assalam o alaikum, I am from India and presently i am an investor in Indian stock market, i want to know that it is halal to invest in insurance companies and assets management companies.

A:

Wa alaykum as-salam

When investing in the stock market, it is necessary to apply two screens to ensure the investment is halal. First, a “Business Activity” screen will make sure that the nature of the business is not haram and that it does not sell too much (more than 5%) in haram products, such as pork, alcohol, pornography, gambling, drugs, or weapons. A coffee shop may sell many products, and one of them may be a marshmallow cake with porcine gelatin as an ingredient. However, it is the only haram product they sell, and it makes up a tiny percentage of their total revenue and profits. Therefore, whatever profit you make from the stock, you must give that percentage of ‘tainted’ income in charity to compensate for haram.

Second, a “Financial” screen will check to make sure the company minimizes haram financial activities. A tech company may sell many products and have plenty of cash in the bank, so it is likely loaning that money out on interest, even though loans are not their primary business.

The two main ratios checked by the second screen are:

1. The debt to market value ratio is less than 30%. Otherwise, the company may be paying too much interest.
2. Cash and interest-bearing deposits are less than 30% of market cap. Otherwise, the company may be receiving too much interest.

Lastly, make sure to purify the tainted income from your investment. Calculate the percentage of income that came from unlawful sources so you can give that amount to charity, but without any expectation of reward. This is like what the average Muslim does when they keep their money in the bank for safekeeping but are unable to prevent their bank from paying them a small percentage of interest income on it. This charity attempts to make income 100% halal and also acts as an ethical protest against those practices.

Most insurance companies will not pass the screen and the asset management companies depend on the type of investments they deal in.

Almighty Allah knows best.