Employee share options in FinTech company

Salaam all,

I joined a FinTech company 1.5 years ago and initially turned down the company shares offered as I thought it wasn’t Shariah-compliant.

I’ve recently come to doubt that though; if the shares are offered at a nominal rate - say, 1p - then from my understanding this would be haram. If they were offered for free as part of the employment contract however, would this be permissible, as it’s part of my compensation package for my work?

Jazakallah khair!

Assalaamu alaykum,

It again depends on the Shariah screening of the company. If it was to fail, even receiving it as salary would be problematic as the share in and of itself doesn’t classify as a valid counter exchange when not Shariah compliant.

Allah knows best

Waalaykum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

Jazakallah khair @Mufti_Faraz_Adam! The problem is the company isn’t publicly listed so I don’t have access to the financials. The company itself is an investment platform that currently allows users to invest in various funds and they also have a savings account. This means the vast majority of the money we receive is from customer deposits. And now, after much pushing there’s a Shariah compliant fund on the horizon Alhumdulillah

What would you recommend? I turned them down initially and I’m in two minds about accepting them now

@Mufti_Faraz_Adam @Mufti_Billal Salaam Mufti saabs, what’s your opinion on the above?

But the company allows non Shariah compliant investments too right?

It would be impermissible to invest if there are Shariah non compliant investments being offered.

Assalamu Aleykum, with regards to above, and what if company is shariah compliant, is it permissible to buy share options as an employee?