Islam’s Stance towards Modern Issues

1) Bank Transactions Institutions of (Interest) Free Loans
· Issue 970: Properties which people deposit in banks under the title of active accounts are considered as interest free loans to the bank. It is permissible for people to take it back and withdraw it when the please. When this is done for compensation as a profit, it is forbidden and the loan is invalid and it is not permissible for the bank to utilize the deposit in this situation.
· Issue 971: Short term and long term deposits which people deposit in Islamic interest free banks, the profit which the bank pays is only lawful for them when it is according to Islamic measures and the methods of Islamic contracts and agreements (of various types, like silent partnerships, partnerships, etc.) and the owner of the money is certain or there is a considerable probability that the bank establishes this contract and acts in a legal manner as a representative and authorized agent of the owner of the deposit.
As for when it is known with certainty that these matters are only for appearance and superficial and merely ink on paper, that profit is unlawful.
· Issue 972: Whatever individuals receive from banks under the title of interest free loans (Qardhul-Hassanah) and loans other than that and, then, something is added to the loan at the time of returning the amount to the bank, it is only lawful when the transaction is completed in a legal manner according to the methodology of Islamic agreements and there is no impression of interest.
· Issue 973: When people know of the existence of lawful money and unlawful money in the bank, however, they do not know the money which they are receiving is from the unlawful, there is no objection in receiving it. However, when they are certain that the money which they have received is taken from unlawful money, it is not permissible for them to utilize it. It is in the ruling of lost property. Due to this, it is obligatory to donate (this unlawful money) in the way of Allah with the permission of the Religious Authority on behalf of the original owner, according to obligatory precaution. In this issue, there is no difference between foreign banks and domestic banks, governments or non-government banks.
· Issue 974: There is no objection in taking interest from foreign and non-Muslim banks. It is unlawful to take interest from banks which belong to Muslims.
· Issue 975: There is no objection in bank transfers (drafts, checks) from foreign banks, meaning that the bank or a businessman takes money from one country (or city) and transfers it to another bank or another individual in another country (or city) in order to receive a sum from (the one desiring the transfer). In exchange for this transfer (the banks) receive something from the owner of the money as compensation. This transaction is lawful whether the fee of the transfer is deducted from that transferred amount itself or the bank or businessman receives it in an independent manner.
Likewise, when the bank or another institution gives a sum to an individual and this individual transfers it in order to surrender it to another branch of this bank or another person in another place, if an amount of the money is taken as a gratuity fee for this transfer, there is no objection in it.
· Issue 976: When mortgage banks and others give a loan with the condition that they profit and take collateral (as a deposit), the loan is invalid and unlawful and the collateral is as such (unlawful for the bank). The bank does not have the right to sell the collateral in order to ensure its rights. It is like someone selling something the bank does not own, except when the profit was established according to the method of legal contracts.
· Issue 977: The fee which is received in offices of interest free loans in exchange for services which this office provides or (in charges it in order) to preserve and organize the accounts of installments and compensation (of these installments), there is no objection in it. However, the precaution is that the amount is appropriate for the volume of work and maintenance which the office bears, except that they are receiving a profit from the loan with the name of a gratuity fee.
· Issue 978: Some interest free loan offices assign something from the (loan's) principle for business' activities or production (costs) in order to secure from its proceeds, the expenses of the office and the (expenses) of loans that are unpaid at times. This activity is only permitted when the owner of the money and deposits are knowledgeable of it and consent to it and (the bank) utilizes the proceeds of this investment only in the maintenance of the office.

2) The Rules of The Promissory Note
· Issue 978: The (term) promissory note (Kampayaalah) is applied to the paper which is not a type of currency, rather, it is a certificate of a financial debt. Due to this, no transaction occurs with it. It is of two kinds:
1) A Real Promissory Note. It is considered as the certificate which the debtor gives in compensation for his debt to the creditor.
2) The Friendly Promissory Note (or I.O.U). It is that which an individual gives without it being in compensation for a debt. The intent of this promissory note is (that one) gives this certificate to a third person and he takes from that person an amount of currency less than what is written in the promissory note.
· Issue 980: When someone gives a Real Promissory Note to another person and he transacts with a lesser amount, like he gives a certificate whose amount is one hundred Dinaar at the time of its realization after three months, in exchange for receiving ninety Dinaar cash. The Real Promissory Note (valued at) one hundred Dinaar, which is the actual liability of the debtor, is sold for ninety Dinaar cash.
This transaction is called Decreasing Promissory Note and it is proper and there is no objection in it. However, the execution of the Friendly Promissory Note is objectionable because a true debt doesn't exist. The methods mentioned to resolve this difficulty are (also) not, without exception, free of objection.
· Issue 981: It is lawful to approach the signatory of the Promissory Note, meaning the giver of the promissory note, when he had not paid his debt in the established time, it is permissible for the creditor to take his debt from that which they had placed on the Promissory Note. In reality, the one given the promissory note is liable to the debtor such that when (the debtor) pays his debt (the holder of the promissory note) must go to pay his debt. This type of liability is said to add responsibility upon responsibility and it is proper.
· Issue 982: Transactions with salable notes or that which is called money exchanges is permitted, meaning to exchange Syrian currency, for example, with Iranian currency or Jordanian currency with Marks or dollars. There is no objection in the increases and reductions in it.
However, to give a loan to someone as an amount of money whether it be in the currency of an Islamic nation or foreign currency, it is permitted only that he receive the same amount from him. Whatever excess is interest and unlawful.
When a loan is given to someone in the amount of foreign currency, for example, one hundred Marks, then, the debtor becomes in compelled to pay in compensation of another currency, it is obligatory to figure the common market value, except when the creditor was agreed with less than that.

3) Key Money (Sarqufali)
· Issue 983: Key money is considered as the right of priority which a lessee obtains in a property in compensation of a sum which he pays in the beginning to the owner. In accordance with that, the lessee is he who pays the key money for priority over others in renting that property in the future. This key money was not (done) in the past, it is now existing among the intelligentsia of the people of 'Urf. It is proper with the following conditions:
1) That the amount of the key money be known and that the two parties execute this transaction with their consent.
2) That (the two parties) be mature (Baaligh), sane ('Aaqil) and sensible (Rasheed) and that they know the meaning of key money and its requirements.
· Issue 984: It is permissible for the owner of the property to rent his property to a person and receive a sum in addition to the payment under the title of key money. In this situation he is not able to rent the property which he has rented to another, although the period of the lease has terminated.
However, when the first lessee who paid the key money agrees, it is permissible for the owner to rent it to another person. The right of the first lessee also is that he may consign that property to another person for a lesser value or more than what he himself paid in the beginning under the title of key money to the owner of the property.
· Issue 985: When the term of the lease of the property for which the key money was taken terminates, the owner is obligated to rent it to that same lessee or another person the present lessee consents to. The amount of the payment is the actual honest value and according to reliable experts.
· Issue 986: He who rents a property and does not pay a sum under the title of key money, when the term of lease terminates, it is not permitted for him to remain in that property without the permission of the owner of the property. When he does not leave the property, he is considered a usurper and is liable for the property and liable for an equitable payment, whether the first term of rental was short or long, whether the value of this payment was elevated or not. When another person rents the property from this person, its rental is not proper, except with the permission of the owner.
· Issue 987: He who rents a property for a period of time along with paying the key money to its owner, it is permissible for him to rent that property to another person for that same amount as long as the term of the lease remains (in effect). However, it is permissible that he take the right of key money by any amount he can complete the agreement with. The consent of the owner of the property is also conditional in transferring the rental, except when he consigns this right to the lessee in the beginning of the matter.

4) Rules of Insurance
· Issue 988: Insurance is a contract between the insured and the insurance company or he whose (business) is insurance. According to this, the foundation of establishing this (type of) company or that (type of insurance vending) person is the compensation of losses which are related to people or something (else) in exchange for (the amount) paid to that company or individual.
This company, contract and independent transaction, when executed with the conditions, which will be mentioned in the upcoming issues, is proper whether the insurance is a kind of commercial manufacturer's (insurance) or construction or building or car or boat or airplane or employee and worker's or life insurance or the various types of insurance known to the knowledgeable in our present time.
· Issue 989: It is a condition that the two parties in the insurance contract be sane ('Aaqil), mature (Baaligh); that they execute the contract of insurance with (clear) intent and free will. (It is also obligatory) that they not be incompetent (Safeeh). Likewise, it is obligatory, in addition to what was mentioned, that they specify all of the particularities. In brief (they are):
1) Specification of the basis of the insurance, is it building, or care or individual insurance?
2) Specification of the two parties of the contract.
3) Specification of the installments and, likewise, the amount that the insured is obligated to pay.
4) Specification of the period of insurance, for example, from now up to a year.
5) Specification of the risks which bring about damages, like the risk of burning, thunder, drowning, theft, death, illness or whatever other risk.
6) Specification of the value of the amount which is from the revenue of insurance, for example, to insure this house for a million Dinaar or more or less or by the current equitable value. All of these situations necessitate that one observes the universal principles in the habits of the intelligent.
· Issue 990: It is permissible to execute the wording of (the contract of) insurance in any language possible or that the contract be written on paper and signed.

5) The Rules of Artificial Insemination (For Women)
· Issue 991: It is permissible to enter (implant) the sperm of man into the womb of his wife by injection or other means. However, it is obligatory the prerequisites of the action be permissible and lawful and that the forbidden and unlawful are avoided.
· Issue 992: It is not permissible to implant the sperm of a non-related man in the womb of a woman, whether it is with the permission of the woman or without her permission, whether she has a husband or not, whether her husband gives permission for that or not. If they do this and a child is born from it, if it resulted from confusion that a man thought it was for his wife or the wife thought it was the sperm of her husband and, later, it appeared otherwise, the child is from the same couple and the rules for the child will apply.
However, when this comes about with knowledge or intent and (awareness) that it is unlawful, the child born from this sperm is not considered a child for the two and the rules of inheritance do not include the child. As for when the child is a girl, it is not permissible for the owner of the sperm to marry her. Likewise it is in the remaining issues related to marriage.

6) The Rules of Transplanting Organs and Postmortems
· Issue 993: It is permissible to transplant the heart, kidneys and other organs, whether they be organs transplanted from a living person or deceased, whether the deceased be a Muslim or non-Muslim. However, it is not permissible to extract the organ from the body of a deceased Muslim and transplant it in the body of another person, except when the life of a Muslim depends upon it or there was another need. In every situation, if the organs of a deceased Muslim are extracted, there is blood money (Diyah). Its payment is obligatory according to what is established in the detailed books of jurisprudence.
· Issue 994: When the deceased gave permission in the state of his life that his organs should be put at the disposal of others for transplant into their bodies or his guardians give permission after his death for that, the ruling of blood money and the remaining rulings are not changed. The precaution is to pay blood money in every situation.
· Issue 995: It is only permissible to extract the organ of living people and implant it in other people as is usual and known in kidney transplants where one of the kidneys of a living individual are extracted and transplanted in the body of one whose both kidneys are damaged, when its owner consents and it does not expose his life to danger. The precaution, when taking a sum in exchange for that (organ), it to put the (payment) as exchange for his permission for this action, meaning, taking his organ from him, not in exchange for the organ itself.
· Issue 996: The injection of human blood in the body of another human for treatment is permitted or for surgical activities or to save the life of a person, whether it be the blood of a Muslim or non-Muslim, a man or woman. There is no objection in selling and buying blood for this purpose.
· Issue 997: When an organ is separated from man, be he dead or alive, and transplanted in the body of another such that it becomes part of the body of the second person, it is not impure (Najis) nor part of a corpse (Maitah) in this situation. As such, there is no objection in prayer with it.
· Issue 998: It is permitted to dissect (as in a postmortem or autopsy) the body of the deceased Muslim for medical purposes with a number of conditions, they are:
1) That the purpose is education and to supplement known medical facts in order to save the lives of Muslims and that is such that it cannot be achieved except by a postmortem.
2) That the dead body of a non-Muslim is not available.
3) That (doctors) are content with the necessary extent (for their purposes). Therefore, whatever is in excess of that is not permitted.
Then, a postmortem with these conditions is permissible, rather, obligatory, at times. These conditions, however, are not conditional for the dead body of a non-Muslim.
· Issue 999: Touching the bodies which are submitted for postmortems, when the deceased was a Muslim and had already been given the baths of the deceased (Ghuslul-Amwaat), does not necessitate the Ghusl for touching the dead body (Ghusl Massil-Mayyit). In other than this situation, the Ghusl for touching the dead body is obligatory when one intends to pray or whatever has purity (Tahaarah) conditional in it. When (performing the Ghusl) brings about difficulty and distress, it is permitted to make Tayammum as a substitute for Ghusl.
When the postmortem is on bones only, not flesh or on detached flesh, like the heart, veins and brain and whatever is similar to that, then, there is no Ghusl. The best, if one is able, is to wear gloves, then, in this situation, there is never a Ghusl (obligatory) for the one touching.
· Issue 1000: There is no blood money in the instances in which it is legally permissible to do a postmortem on the body of man.