Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Can I use the employee discount a family member gets through the department store they work at?
Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,
I pray that this finds you well, and in the best of health and spirits. May Allah grant you all good and success in this life and the next.
The discount mentioned is a concession given by the store to a particular person. That person, specifically, has the right to use it for themselves–and not for anyone else, unless the store actually allows such individuals to use the concession to purchase things for others.
Thus, if the store really allows using the discount for items purchased on behalf of others, then it would be permitted to ask your friend to purchase the item for you. Otherwise, it would be cheating, which is sinful. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever cheats is not of us.” [Muslim, from Abu Hurayra; Kattani considered it a mass-transmitted hadith in his Nadhm al-Mutanathir, 1.155]
And Allah alone gives success.
Faraz Rabbani