We are employees at an agency that deducts seven percent from our salaries and adds fourteen percent, making the total twenty-one percent.

The questioner : We are employees at an agency that deducts seven percent from our salaries, and they add another fourteen percent, making it twenty-one percent. In one of the years, I think it was two years, we lost money in our savings; meaning, we found that at the end of the year we had lost a value of, for example, seven percent, eight percent, or ten percent. But in most years, we made a profit in this savings. What is the ruling on the legitimacy of this savings? And does it fall under the category of riba (usury or interest) in riba-based transactions? Even though we do not know in what direction the money is used, we do not know, but the issue of profit and loss is present; sometimes we make a profit, sometimes we lose, but the issue of profit is more frequent than loss. The second part of the question is that this money is not currently in our possession; we cannot dispose of it except in the case where one ends his service or resigns. Is zakah obligatory on this money or not? May Allah reward you with all good.

The Shaykh : Your question contains three questions. What is the first question?

The questioner : The first question is whether the savings we receive at the end of every year, where we get profits of sometimes seven percent, eight percent, or ten percent, is permissible. We have experienced loss twice. I do not know if it is due to the fluctuation of the dinar and the dollar, or because of the investment in which they invest our money abroad.

The Shaykh : Leave the loss aside for now. Where does the profit come from?

The questioner : We do not know where the money from our savings is invested; we do not know the forms of its investment. Is it in bonds? Is it in real estate? We do not know how they invest it, but at the end of every year we receive profits, and sometimes we lose.

The Shaykh : Well, since you do not know, do you know that... they trade with the employees' money? You say: you do not know?

The questioner : I do not know; because there are property bonds... they say there are investments that lose and gain.

The Shaykh : Investments by depositing money in the bank, this is what is known.

The questioner : I do not know.

The Shaykh : Therefore.
Please proceed.
Mashhur: The investment, as I learned from the responsible professors in the agency for teachers, is that a committee is elected. This matter is frequently encountered and frequently asked about. So, one of the good brothers among the students of knowledge who seek to distinguish the halal from the haram, after questions and investigation, and he was the one responsible for the committee, said: The investment comes from two ways: The first way is buying a bulk of currencies that may profit or lose through buying the currency, and the second way is depositing in the bank through riba (usury or interest).

The Shaykh : They say in our region in Sham: "Call it unemployment." From whatever angle you look at this investment that you are referring to, it is not permissible. So, if you have a fixed salary in addition to the job only, and not for the investment, that is what is lawful for you, and anything else is not lawful; because you have learned the method of investment from two ways, and it is not through trade and speculation and buying assets where you may profit or lose; not as you heard just now. Therefore, as He - the Exalted - said: . And this is the problem of all the offices that deal with such transactions.