Please give me a ruling.
My company requires me to send all sale agreements to OOBA, a mortgage originator, regardless of whether a bond is required or not.
Interest bearing transactions are against my religious principles but according to company policy I have to do this. When the transaction is completed OOBA gives us a cash favour which the company pays over to the agent. I don’t know what to do with the money…..to use or not.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salamu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatuh.
In principle, any active and direct involvement in sin is not permissible.[1]
In the enquired situation, you, as a real estate agent[2], are only required to forward all sales agreements to a mortgage originator[3] and you are not actively and directly involved in any mortgage transaction. Therefore, you are not party to an interest bearing loan and your income or commission as an agent is permissible.
And Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Ismaeel Bassa
Student Darul Iftaa
Durban South Africa
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
www.daruliftaa.net
[1] و لا تعاونوا على الإثم و العدوان(النساء:٢)
Do not assist one another in sin and transgression (Nisa’: 2)
[2] A real estate agent is a person with a state/provincial license to represent a buyer or a seller in a real estate transaction in exchange for commission. Most agents work for a real estate broker or realtor.
[3] A mortgage originator is an institution or individual that works with a borrower to complete a mortgage transaction. A mortgage originator can be either a mortgage broker or a mortgage banker, and is the original mortgage lender. Mortgage originators are part of the primary mortgage market
(http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/mortgage_originator.asp)