Company Shares
Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Question: My company has offered me the option to buy company shares. The share price is substantial, so they offer a loan but it is not interest-free. The company will pay the interest portion, and I will have to pay the principal amount of the loan. Is this transaction legal in our deen?
Answer: wa ‘alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.
I pray you are well.
This transaction is impermissible. It’s better that you get an interest-free loan from another source if you wish to make this investment.
Being Far from Allah’s Mercy
The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, cursed the one who takes interest, the one who gives it, the one who documents the transaction, and the one who is a witness to that transaction; he said, “They are all equal [in sin].” (Muslim) This is a serious matter.
A curse (la’na) is a plea to Allah to distance someone from His mercy. Imagine a time when you are desperately in need of Allah’s mercy, whether in this life or the next, and it doesn’t show? How dire would that situation be?
Find an alternative, pray the istikhara prayer, and pursue it in a halal manner if you feel it is for your ultimate benefit. Otherwise, run a mile, lest Allah’s mercy is even further away from you at your hour of need.
May Allay grant you the best of both worlds.
[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began his studies in Arabic Grammar and Morphology in 2005. After graduating with a degree in English and History he moved to Damascus in 2007 where, for 18 months, he studied with erudite scholars such as Shaykh Adnan Darwish, Shaykh Abdurrahman Arjan, Shaykh Hussain Darwish, and Shaykh Muhammad Darwish. In late 2008 he moved to Amman, Jordan, where he continued his studies for the next six years in Sacred Law (fiqh), legal theory (Usul al-fiqh), theology, hadith methodology, hadith commentary, and Logic with teachers such as Dr. Ashraf Muneeb, Dr. Salah Abu’l-Hajj, Dr. Hamza al-Bakri, Shaykh Ahmad Hasanat, Dr. Mansur Abu Zina, and others. He was also given licenses of mastery in the science of Qur’anic recital by Shakh Samir Jabir and Shaykh Yahya Qandil. With Shaykh Ali, he was able to study an extensive curriculum of Qur’anic sciences, tafsir, Arabic grammar, and Arabic eloquence.
