yes; in all cases, donations are not recoverable / refundable (to the donor), and do not compulsorily entitle the donor to benefits.
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1) No, because mutually guaranteeing one another has it's firm basis in Shariah and can be seen in Takaful where people donate and the money is pooled and then reimbursed and distributed at certain times and situations. The "Diya" or blood money payment system is another example from Islam where money was pooled together and when it needed to be paid as a result of someone killing another person then the tribe would pay the blood money from the pooled money. 2) The investment part is tricky because one has no control over where the money is invested. However, one can "opt in" if the total invested amount is in permissible funds/investment vehicles (like gold for example) or if it is a mixture of Halal and Haram then the Halal amount invested must total 51% or more. Otherwise it becomes Haram to invest in this scheme. It should be easy to check which fund the money is invested in as most pension funds are open about their funds. Also, there should be no riba involved. Allah Knows Best
Mawlana Sahib, if the union cancels your coverage if you stop paying, then would this be similar enough to giving a donation that is optional?
As Salāmu ʿAlaykum, Just had a look at the question and it didn't say that the amount given to the employee upon the loss of their employment was given with the expectation of repayment (i.e. a loan). What he said was that there was a membership fee charged to all members and when one loses their job, 80% of their income is given by the union, presumably from the funds they initially accumulated. The most likely thing that will happen is that they take this pool of money and invest it in a portfolio of questionable legality and then reimburse any one member if he loses his job, in a manner similar to insurance. So the questions would be: 1. Is there anything intrinsically wrong with a group of people pooling money together to cover for any one individual's economic difficulty? 2. The union wants to grow this pool of money via investment and hires an investment firm to invest the money. If the firm invests in harām does it have any bearing on the money the union eventually gives you?* *The transaction structure would look something like this: Thoughts?
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