Is it permissible for an employee to borrow someone else's name to open a tailoring shop, with the shop's profit belonging to him?
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The questioner : There is a man who, by virtue of being an employee... in practicing trade, saw that he could exploit his mother's name, who is present, to open a women's tailoring shop. He has brothers and sisters from this mother, so his mother gave him an agency to bring in a worker and opened a shop. The shop's profit will be his personally, without his brothers, and his mother allowed this. What is your opinion?
The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
I see that this is a forbidden act because it involves lying, it involves deceiving the state and tricking it, it involves consuming wealth unjustly because it is without right, and it involves favoring one son over the rest. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sahih al-Bukhari 2587.
So my advice to the mother is to withdraw this grant she gave her son and to seek forgiveness from Allah. And we say to this employee: You have the choice. The government has not obligated you to do anything. Either you leave the job and open the shop, or you stay in the job and leave the shop.
Then, what I understood from the question is that this brother will put the shop in his mother's name and give it to the worker and take the profit from it. If the profit is shared, for example, by saying: "You have one-third of the profit obtained, or one-quarter, or one-half," then this is permissible from the Shari'ah perspective. It is from these materials and machines and from this work. But if the state forbids this, then it is also not permissible, because we must obey the state in every matter except what contradicts the Shari'ah. And this does not contradict the Shari'ah if they say: "No, do not grant these people work; rather, they remain with you on a fixed monthly salary."
But some people say: If we put them on a fixed salary, a problem arises, which is the workers' manipulation such that they do not produce. So we say, to prevent this danger, a percentage is given to the worker in what he produces?
It is said: You have the agreed-upon monthly salary, and for every meter, so much and so much, or for every garment if he is a tailor, so much and so much, or for every unit if he is an electrician, so much and so much. And by this, compliance with the government in what it obligated the importer to do is achieved, and benefit is achieved and manipulation is prevented.
The questioner : Another question.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
I see that this is a forbidden act because it involves lying, it involves deceiving the state and tricking it, it involves consuming wealth unjustly because it is without right, and it involves favoring one son over the rest. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Be afraid of Allah, and be just to your children.
اتقوا الله واعدلوا بين أبنائكمSo my advice to the mother is to withdraw this grant she gave her son and to seek forgiveness from Allah. And we say to this employee: You have the choice. The government has not obligated you to do anything. Either you leave the job and open the shop, or you stay in the job and leave the shop.
Then, what I understood from the question is that this brother will put the shop in his mother's name and give it to the worker and take the profit from it. If the profit is shared, for example, by saying: "You have one-third of the profit obtained, or one-quarter, or one-half," then this is permissible from the Shari'ah perspective. It is from these materials and machines and from this work. But if the state forbids this, then it is also not permissible, because we must obey the state in every matter except what contradicts the Shari'ah. And this does not contradict the Shari'ah if they say: "No, do not grant these people work; rather, they remain with you on a fixed monthly salary."
But some people say: If we put them on a fixed salary, a problem arises, which is the workers' manipulation such that they do not produce. So we say, to prevent this danger, a percentage is given to the worker in what he produces?
It is said: You have the agreed-upon monthly salary, and for every meter, so much and so much, or for every garment if he is a tailor, so much and so much, or for every unit if he is an electrician, so much and so much. And by this, compliance with the government in what it obligated the importer to do is achieved, and benefit is achieved and manipulation is prevented.
The questioner : Another question.
The Shaykh : Yes.