Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Enter Question
View By Subject
Fatwa Of The Week
Selected Fatwa
Fatwa CenterApparent lawfulness of a company sufficient to permit investing in it
Question
AsSalam o Alakum Sir I asked a Q some days back, regarding Investment (Q.No.2385490). My Q was clubbed with another Q and replied (Fatwa No.81504), & my point was missed. My Question was: Many businesses are “APARENTLY” HALAL such as: -Agriculture manufacturing industry, -Electronic Equipment manufacturing industry (Medical and Engineering Equipment) -Chemical industry -Hotel/Restaurants in Saudi Arabia and that’s all we know about them, no other details are available to the investors, such as they took loan from bank or not, how much interest bearing investment they have made etc, Can We purchase the shares of such companies that look “APPARENTLY” HALAL and earn there profit/dividend which they distribute monthly, yearly etc, or earn Capital Gain by selling the share ? Keeping in view the Hadeeth that “once upon a time Hazrat Umar (R.A) was traveling, during the journey, the caravan stayed near a pond of water (Pani ka talab). One person from the caravan asked a local person about the purity of water of the pond, but Hazrat Umar (R.A) stopped him to answer this question and said that apparently we see no impurity in water, and it looks clean so we should not inquire about its details and we should use this water.” This Hadeeth is Saheeh or Zaheef, and what result / guidance we can get from this hadis Please Answar the Question. Jazakumullah Khaira. WasSalam.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
We cannot pass any judgment regarding those companies as long as we do not have enough knowledge about their activities. Also, rulings of companies differ from one to another; so passing judgment regarding a specific company requires considering well the activity of that company according to the details that are stated in its methodology and the activities it actually practices.
In general, we can say that if the apparent activity of that company is confined to what is lawful and nothing indicates that it deals in prohibited matters, then the basic ruling is that there is no impediment to participating in it because the basic ruling of companies is permissibility.
For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 81504and 90770.
As for the mentioned narration, it was reported by Imaam Maalik in Al-Muwatta', Al-Bayhaqi in As-Sunan, and others, and Al-Albaani deemed it Dha'eef (weak) in Takhreej (referring each Hadeeth to its sources) Mishkaat Al-Masaabeeh.
As for its benefits, 'Umar's criticism of the question was because there was no reason for that question. It was a form of over-strictness, and also there is no difference if the wild beasts drank from it (water of the pond) or not. Al-Baaji 
said: "His saying, 'people drank after the wild beasts and the wild beasts drank after them' may have two meanings: Firstly, explaining the cause behind not taking their drinking from it into consideration because it is something that is difficult to avoid and thus it is pardoned. Secondly, drinking of the wild beasts after us or our drinking after them is something permissible."
Allaah Knows best.
Search Fatwa
Fatwa Subject
