I ask your eminence to clarify that. The Shaykh: The form of the issue, as we understand it regarding this association, is that there is a group of employees, each of whom is given
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The questioner : A group of people participate in an association, and at the end of each month, each person receives a sum of money which they call the association. What is your opinion? Is this considered riba or is it halal? I ask your eminence to clarify that.
The Shaykh : The form of the issue, as we understand it regarding this association, is that there is a group of employees, each of whom is given one thousand riyals from his salary. They assign number one, and each of them gives him one thousand riyals. If we assume there are ten of them, this first person receives ten thousand riyals in the first month: his salary and nine from his colleagues. Then in the second month, it is for the second person, until the ten are completed. This is permissible and there is no problem with its permissibility. It is a form of cooperation in righteousness and piety and in meeting the needs of brothers. This is not from the category of: "Every loan that brings benefit is riba", because nothing has been brought to the lender, as he has not received more than what he lent. He lent nine thousand, one thousand each month, and he will take from them only nine thousand. As for the fact that he benefited from the gathering of the ten thousand in the first month in his possession, that is the right of every person who lends to someone and then collects from him; he will obtain the sum all at once, and it does no harm. In any case, this transaction is permissible and there is no problem with it.
The questioner : And they may agree, Shaykh Muhammad, that this first one and this second one and this third one, and they may put a lottery in this?
The Shaykh : Yes, if they agree that so-and-so is the first and so-and-so is the second, the matter is clear. And if they draw lots, then in the second month they do not include the first one with them in the lottery, because he has already received his right.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : The form of the issue, as we understand it regarding this association, is that there is a group of employees, each of whom is given one thousand riyals from his salary. They assign number one, and each of them gives him one thousand riyals. If we assume there are ten of them, this first person receives ten thousand riyals in the first month: his salary and nine from his colleagues. Then in the second month, it is for the second person, until the ten are completed. This is permissible and there is no problem with its permissibility. It is a form of cooperation in righteousness and piety and in meeting the needs of brothers. This is not from the category of: "Every loan that brings benefit is riba", because nothing has been brought to the lender, as he has not received more than what he lent. He lent nine thousand, one thousand each month, and he will take from them only nine thousand. As for the fact that he benefited from the gathering of the ten thousand in the first month in his possession, that is the right of every person who lends to someone and then collects from him; he will obtain the sum all at once, and it does no harm. In any case, this transaction is permissible and there is no problem with it.
The questioner : And they may agree, Shaykh Muhammad, that this first one and this second one and this third one, and they may put a lottery in this?
The Shaykh : Yes, if they agree that so-and-so is the first and so-and-so is the second, the matter is clear. And if they draw lots, then in the second month they do not include the first one with them in the lottery, because he has already received his right.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.