Q: I want to know if I should stop working at my work place or is it halaal what they are doing? We sell boards (wood). When a customer comes with his sizes we use a computer system to work out how many boards will be needed to supply the sizes he needs to make a kitchen / cupboard Say for example the boards work out to two boards. However the customer’s carpenter asks us to add the price of one more board therefore charging the customer for three boards even though the customers sizes only works out to two. Once the customer pays the money for three boards thinking he is buying two boards or sometimes thinking that he needs three boards when in reality only two boards will be used. We then give the money for the third board that won’t be used to the carpenter quietly without the customer knowing. I advised my boss that it is Haraam. But he argues with me saying it is not because he didn’t take even a cent. But I told him you are helping the carpenter steal money and you are deceiving customers and not giving them the correct amount of items they paid for. Please advise me on the rulings so I can present it to my boss.
A: This is not permissible. You are deceiving and cheating the customer by charging him for what he did not purchase. Hence, the money you have charged him for the third board (which you did not sell to him) is not halaal.
And Allah Ta’ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
Answered by:
Mufti Zakaria Makada
Checked & Approved:
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)