Answered by: Maulana Moinul Abu Hamza
Question
Assalāmu alaykum warahmatullāhi wabarakātuh.
I have a question relating to network marketing
I am a Neolife distributor, and I sell the products as well as recruit people under me, thus growing my team. I, therefore, earn based on their sales as well as my own.
My question is whether this is allowed by the shariah. Is the income earned from what they sell and thus, contributing to my points and therefore my position within the company e.g. senior manager, Halaal income?
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most-Merciful
Answer:
If I have understood the question clearly, as there is more than one Neolife company selling products, the head company requires you, the distributor, to purchase their products to have the right to become its distributor, and this is for a commission, i.e. you bring other salesmen who take a commission in return for the sale. And every subsequent sale from your buyers who become salesmen brings you a commission.
This means the contract to buy and the referral program are two transactions in a single transaction because each is a condition of another. This is haram.
«نَهَى رَسُولُ اللهِ عَنْ صَفْقَتَيْنِ فِي صَفْقَةٍ وَاحِدَةٍ»
The “Messenger of Allah (saw) has forbidden two transactions in one transaction” (Extracted by Ahmad on the authority of Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah bin Masood from his father).
Only Allah knows best
Written by Maulana Moinul Abu Hamza
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham