Assalamu Alaikum,
For many youth in non-Muslim countries that are children of immigrants, our parents generation did not have much available to them in terms of Shariah-compliant investment options or knowledge/awareness thereof. As such, most of them have conventional pensions from their work or some conventional RRSP account.
I had several questions in this regard:
1 - In general, is it permissible to eat the food or accept the gift of someone that has a non-Shariah-compliant pension?
2 - If parents distributed wealth within their lifetime to their children (gifted), does one assume that wealth is halal or does one have to purify some of it? What if we don’t know even know if it’s money from the pension or money from other halal savings?
3 - How would one handle a case where one inherits wealth from such a fund? It would not be practical to be able to find out how much of it is halal or not.
Please note - I am not sure about the UK but in North America this is a widespread problem (probably like >99%!!)
JazakAllah khair
Wa Alaykum Salaam,
In terms of RRSPs, there is now an effort to educate and create Shariah compliant alternatives. Muslims should invest in such Shariah compliant investments.
In terms of parents supporting children or gifting, there is concession and scope for the children to benefit from this wealth. This will be considered a form of purification which the classical jurists have explicitly mention:
**عَلَيْهِ دُيُونٌ لِأُنَاسٍ لَا يَعْرِفُهُمْ مِنْ غُصُوبٍ وَمَظَالِمَ وَجِبَايَاتٍ يَتَصَدَّقُ بِقَدْرِهِ عَلَى الْفُقَرَاءِ عَلَى عَزِيمَةِ الْقَضَاءِ إنْ وَجَدَهُمْ مَعَ التَّوْبَةِ إلَى الله تَعَالَى فَيُعْذَرُ وَلَوْ صَرَفَ ذَلِكَ إلَى الْوَالِدَيْنِ أَوْ الْمَوْلُودِينَ يَصِيرُ مَعْذُورًا وَكَذَا فِي إزَالَةِ الْخُبْثِ عَنْ الْأَمْوَالِ. (الهندية ج 5 ص 367 الرشيدية **
Even in terms of inheritance, the children may accept the wealth of their parents.
Also, the earlier generations were hardly exposed to Shariah compliant investments due to the lack or availability of such investments, therefore, there are other factors to consider here.
Allah knows best