If there is a Mufti reading this right now and is worried that his public opinion may cause some people to take his response to my situation as fatwa, please can you PM me as I am in severe and dire need of some guidance from someone. I am really depressed because I don’t know what to do.
I work with a financial firm that trades derivatives. I’m on a trading floor as a day trader trading with the company capital. I’m not engaging in interest based transactions directly because the account, traders use, is a demo account with virtual funds therefore I don’t’ receive or give interest or take any loans and in all transactions nothing of real value is risked/exchanged or earned.
I have found there to be arguments for and against my nature of work from an islamic perspective. However I have read that scholars argue derivatives is impermissible due to their speculative nature. Some I have read, say speculation is a necessary in the case of financial firms. I wanted to ask if it would be permissible for me to continue this work SHORT TERM in order to save up money to start halal investments and never engage in this again. My options are very limited right now when it comes to finding good paying halal jobs as I hold no degree and applying to university itself would be a huge mess because my A levels grades are very poor. I was only admitted to university due to extenuating circumstances at the time of my A levels which means they overlooked my poor performance and I only got in because of unfortunate events that happened at the time. I then dropped out of college because I wanted to explore entrepreneurship and I was not appealed by the idea of working a white collar office 9-5 job and I wanted financial independence to improve my own life and for others around me. However I was not versed on Islamic finance when I made the decision. Now that I’ve started to earn a better living, I’ve learned I’m in a doubtful area.
after uni, I started from a minimum wage job background and jumped around a bunch of different online businesses. I tried to explore other ventures like running an agency and I failed badly. the only one I found to be successful for me was day trading. I have worked very hard to get an opportunity where I don’t have to be dependant on my dad who is reaching of very old age and I have made lots of dua to Allah to give me success in this field because I made the intention to build my wealth as tool to help others in need. I’m basically broke without this work and my dad can’t support me forever. I’m almost 3 years in this journey where I have just began to be somewhat nearing independent and close to being successful. I have worked hard on polishing my skills as trader and its disheartening for me because I had sincere intentions to align my work in a way that can build me wealth to help my community. Should I just quit and go back to working min wage? I have looked at other options such as starting a service based business but I don’t have any skills because I don’t have a degree and getting a degree at this stage in my life is looking to be hard. I’ve looked at finance intern roles that suit my trading background but they all ultimately delve into doubtful areas. I’ve looked at other online service based businesses like drop shipping, amazon fba etc but even they are also seen to have elements of haram in them and are said to be avoided. I have looked for multiple opportunities on LinkedIn for office jobs that don’t require a degree but its hard given the competition. Even if I did get a traditional office job, I wouldn’t find it fulfilling because I don’t find it appealing working 9-5 and saving money to retire like the average Joe.
The only thing I can think of that would be risk mitigating, feasible, smart to save me from living a life of hardship and just all round misery while sticking to my goals would be to just save all the earnings I make for a while, and use that to start some type of long term halal business/investment so I never have to be in this type of situation again? And ask for forgiveness? But would that be permissble? I would be really grateful if a Mufti could respond to this post or send me a private message as to what I should do beacuse I’m really lost. Jazakhallah khair