What is the ruling of Sharia on purchasing a laptop via the initiative, "laptop to every government employee," signed by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Civil Service Consumer Corporation and the Jordan Postal Saving Fund? This is knowing that the employee wishing to purchase a laptop would go to the Civil Service Consumer Corporation and the latter would provide him with a certain form for salary deduction purposes. Then, he has to get the signature of two of his colleagues on that form, in addition to that of the salaries accountant. After that, the form is sent to the Civil Service Consumer Corporation, which informs the Jordan Postal Saving Fund to hand the laptop to the employee. In fact, I have asked the Civil Service Consumer Corporation whether this is a direct contract of sale or not and was given no answer. I have also asked that in case I failed to pay an installment for any reason, will I be liable for extra penalties or not and I was also given no answer. Accordingly, could you clarify the ruling of Sharia on this contract?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds. May His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.
After reviewing the agreement of mutual understanding and cooperation between the above institutions, We (Iftaa` Department) found out that the Jordan Postal Saving Fund possesses the laptops and has deputized the Civil Service Consumer Corporation to sell them, then the collected installments are transferred to the Jordan Postal Saving Fund every six months. Of course, this is done in agreement with the Ministry of Communications, which provides financial support, in certain aspects, to the Jordan Postal Saving Fund and the Civil Service Consumer Corporation. Consequently, based on this jurisprudential framing, it is permissible for the government employees to benefit from this initiative by purchasing laptops from the Jordan Postal Saving Fund through the Civil Service Consumer Corporation. This is because the contract of agency fully meets the requirements and there is no suspicion of sale before taking possession of commodity since the Civil Service Consumer Corporation doesn`t conduct Murabah to the purchase orderer. Rather, it is merely an agent as far as selling the laptops in favor of the Jordan Postal Saving Fund is concerned. We have reviewed the commitment authority and the deduction authorization signed by the employee who wants to purchase a laptop, and found no violations of Sharia therein. And Allah the Almighty knows best.