I have a friend who is an agent for a company but did not informed me that he is an agent & will get benefit if I make the deal.
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
(May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
What Quran &
Hadith says about persons who do business by hiding information or by not
disclosing that he/she will be beneifted the deal.
I have a friend who is an agent for a company but did not informed me that he
is an agent & will get benefit if I make the deal. If had gone with other
agent i would have discussed in business way get better deal, as he is my
friend i trusted him & did not asked any details & he made huge money
by hiding information.
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Business by hiding
information
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His
help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide,
and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear
witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear
witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His
Messengers.
If the agent is a close friend and would benefit by
earning some commission from the deal, it would indeed be morally and ethically
purer if the agent-friend chose to inform his friend that he would materially
benefit from the deal; but if the agent-friend chose not to disclose to his
friend that he will materially benefit from the deal, he is under absolutely no
obligation in Shariah to do so.
But if the agent, regardless of whether friend or
non-friend, intentionally misinformed or lied regarding the product in the
transaction in order to acquire the deal, then indeed that would be dishonesty
and a sin in the Sight of Shariah. But
if the agent-friend did not lie or misinform regarding the product in the
transaction, he is under no obligation in Shariah to inform the buyer whether
or how much commission he is entitled to earn from the seller in the deal.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only
due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me
alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is
the Only Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan