One question as per your halal haram stocks. What is punishment in this case from Allah?
Bismillahi Ta’ala
Walaikum Assalam Warahmatullah,
I cannot comment on the punishment in the matter of engaging in haram investment in totality, as that is within the domain of Allah.
It is sufficient to realize that if the investment and engagement is haram, it is punishable in the Akhirah, just like any sinful activity. The nature of the punishment should not affect our choice of whether to commit the sin or not.
It is for this reason that the ruling of haram, makruh tahrimi, as well as makruh tanzihi is the same — i.e., impermissible to do.
That being said, in some instances of engaging in a corrupt or haram contract, there could be:
- Ghasb (taking someone’s wealth without permission),
- Qimar (gambling), or
- Riba (interest).
The punishment could therefore differ according to the specific sin involved, or according to the multitude of sins within the wrong action.
This conceptual understanding of sinful actions should be acquired through regular in-depth discourses from the mashayikh on such topics. These are discussed under the topics of al-kaba’ir and al-sagha’ir (major and minor sins) and should be learnt through rigorous study of hadith. Scholars explain that quite a few of these sins are compound sins. Outwardly, the sin may seem to be only one, but it has multiple sins within it.
As an example, one of the major sins mentioned in hadith is killing one’s offspring out of fear of hunger or poverty. Outwardly, two major reasons for this being a major sin may be:
- Killing itself is a huge sin.
- Doing it for something that is already taken care of by Allah increases its severity.
But over and above this, the mashayikh mention that in doing so one is committing four sins within one action:
- Murder.
- Breaking ties.
- Hard-heartedness.
- Fearing poverty, which indirectly implies believing in the incapability of Allah.
A final point to address is that in quite a few contemporary issues, there may be a difference of opinion among the mashāyikh as to whether a particular activity is ḥalāl or not.
However, where there is sufficient doubt about the impermissibility of the act (such as investing in haram stocks), then even if some mashāyikh may allow it based on difference of opinion, piety still demands erring on the side of caution and avoiding such avenues. This is always safer and more righteous.
Thus, one should only seek investment avenues that have been rigorously reviewed and assessed to be Sharīʿah-compliant by scholars of repute whom one trusts in that field.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mufti Faisal al-Mahmudi