What is the ruling on the pharmaceutical joint-stock company that distributed profits before it began operations, and there is a suspicion that these are usurious profits? Is it permissible to invest in it, and what is our obligation toward it?

The questioner : May Allah reward you well, O Shaykh. There is a questioner asking about a company called the Pharmaceutical Company. This company is established and operating, and it has shares. However, it wants to expand its capital, so it has issued new shares for subscription. The questioner says: At the very beginning of the company, it distributed profits to people before it started its actual business operations. He suspects that these profits were usurious profits, which it obtained by placing funds in the bank.
So this questioner asks: What is the ruling on subscribing to it, or investing in it? And what is our obligation toward this situation, or toward this company?

The Shaykh : What appears to be the case is, as I said, that this is usury, as long as it has not yet begun operations. However, it is obligatory for him to give away what he received as charity, as a voluntary offering from him, to rid himself of it.

The questioner : Likewise, the new subscription has nothing to do with this; I mean, this is regarding the past.

The Shaykh : The new subscription is fine to subscribe to; there is nothing wrong with it. Yes.