An Agreement between a Company`s Staff Provident Fund and an Agency for Hajj and Umrah Services

Answer:

The above agreement is permissible and it is what Muslim jurists call "Ja`aalah" or "Brokerage", and there is no harm that it is a percentage, not a definite amount since some of the Hanbalite scholars have permitted determining its amount as a percentage. Ibn Qodamah(May Allah bless him) said, "If he sent a piece of textile to a tailor to make a certain piece of garment in exchange for what remains from that piece, then it is permissible"{Al-Moghni}. In order for the above transaction to be permissible, it is conditioned that the agency doesn`t calculate its commission on basis of the overall cost in order to avoid usury(Riba) since if it did, then the commission of the company`s fund is collected from the staff member, not the company. Moreover, it is conditioned that the Ja`aalah contract between the fund and the company is separated from the Umrah agreement between the staff member and the company, in order to avoid usury. Therefore, it isn`t permissible for the company to settle the overall amount due on the staff member after having deducted the commission obtained by Ja`aalah. This Ja`aalah doesn`t fit under the Sharia maxim, "Every loan that yields a benefit is usurious" in case the company makes an instant payment on behalf of the staff member, then deducts it from his salary at a certain percentage. This is because the commission earned by the company wasn`t for providing the loan-the company`s loan to the staff member-; rather, for conducting the transaction of Ja`aaalah, whether he made an instant payment or the company did so on his behalf. And Allah knows best.