Financial Contributions and Profit-Sharing Partnerships
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah reward you. People in this time have been afflicted and led astray by the trial of stocks, bonds, and profit-sharing partnerships. Some have been scrupulous, some have engaged in them, and some have hesitated, being scrupulous at times and engaging at others, based on fatwas of permissibility or fatwas of prohibition. What is the guidance of Your Eminence the Shaykh? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
There is no doubt that seeking sustenance and earning a livelihood is a required matter, but this must be through lawful and permissible means, not through forbidden or unknown means. One should not engage in matters involving ignorance and risks that one does not understand. One should not place his capital except in something he knows and understands thoroughly.
As for putting it into things he does not know or understand, and gambling with people without insight, that is what has led people into trouble. Let us leave aside the fatwas and the sayings of those who spoke. Look at the reality. Look at the reality.
The fortunate one is the one who takes a lesson from the experience of others. Look at what happened to those who gambled and entered into these contributions. Look at the setbacks they suffered, the destruction of their wealth, the debts that burdened them, and what they lost.
It is obligatory that we look into these matters and hold onto our wealth, managing it ourselves, and not give it to others whom we do not know or trust. We must hold onto our wealth and manage it ourselves with insight and on a sound path. There is nothing wrong with giving money as a profit-sharing partnership to a person you trust, or to a company whose system and work you know. There is nothing wrong with that.
But as for putting it into the depths of the sea where you do not know what it is, who manages it, how they manage it, what they do with it—whether they sell and buy, or engage in riba (usury or interest), or something else, or gamble, or the like—do not enter into that. Do not enter into what you do not know if you want safety. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah reward you. People in this time have been afflicted and led astray by the trial of stocks, bonds, and profit-sharing partnerships. Some have been scrupulous, some have engaged in them, and some have hesitated, being scrupulous at times and engaging at others, based on fatwas of permissibility or fatwas of prohibition. What is the guidance of Your Eminence the Shaykh? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
There is no doubt that seeking sustenance and earning a livelihood is a required matter, but this must be through lawful and permissible means, not through forbidden or unknown means. One should not engage in matters involving ignorance and risks that one does not understand. One should not place his capital except in something he knows and understands thoroughly.
As for putting it into things he does not know or understand, and gambling with people without insight, that is what has led people into trouble. Let us leave aside the fatwas and the sayings of those who spoke. Look at the reality. Look at the reality.
The fortunate one is the one who takes a lesson from the experience of others. Look at what happened to those who gambled and entered into these contributions. Look at the setbacks they suffered, the destruction of their wealth, the debts that burdened them, and what they lost.
It is obligatory that we look into these matters and hold onto our wealth, managing it ourselves, and not give it to others whom we do not know or trust. We must hold onto our wealth and manage it ourselves with insight and on a sound path. There is nothing wrong with giving money as a profit-sharing partnership to a person you trust, or to a company whose system and work you know. There is nothing wrong with that.
But as for putting it into the depths of the sea where you do not know what it is, who manages it, how they manage it, what they do with it—whether they sell and buy, or engage in riba (usury or interest), or something else, or gamble, or the like—do not enter into that. Do not enter into what you do not know if you want safety. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-03-التوبة آداب وأحكام|صالح الفوزان|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (55:07)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.