Al Salam Alaykom,
I tried looking online but got nothing specific about this case. I’m a software developer and I’m wondering if it’s okay to work in a company that has more than 5% non permissible income but not directly on those products. In this specific question I’m talking about Amazon, which when I read islamicly review on it that it has ~15% revenue from media content and that’s why it’s non permissible. So for example if I work in Amazon I’ll work on Alexa, Amazon web services but not on Prime (video content like Netflix).
Then if it’s halal to work there, big part of the compensation is given in restricted stock units yearly, but the stock does fail the halal criteria, is it okay to consider it part of my salary and just sell it right after vesting in this case? (I’m not sure whether with RSU I’m the owner when they are restricted or when they vest and what should I do exactly)
There is a difference between working at a company (being employed) and investing in a company.
In so far as employment is concerned, your job description is key to understanding whether your employment and earnings are lawful.
In so far as investing is concerned, the Shariah screening is paramount and a company must pass that.
The reason is, in the former, you are not becoming a shareholder or an owner, in the latter, you are. In the former, you are just a beneficiary, in the latter, you are an “owner”.
So if Amazon failed a Shariah screening test, you would only have entitlement to the capital if you invested.
In terms of bonus paid in stock units, if the initial bonus value was defined in terms of value, you could cash out by liquidating your holdings and keep the amount. The excess/gain must be dispensed in charity.
Your answer got me wondering, what about working at a bank or financial institution in this case? I’ll be working for example as a software developer for end users products that have nothing related to debt or interests (checking balances, doing transactions). Would this be considered halal in this case?
Sorry brother, I actually did not see Mufti Faraz’s answer and your post about Restricted Stock on my device. I have deleted my original answer as it did look confusing in the middle of your question and Mufti Faraz’s reply.
I agree with Mufti’s answer, please refer back to his original post.
If I understood correctly, if a company whose stock is impermissible pays stock to employees with a specified value, then one should sell the stock, but one can keep the specified value while donating any capital gains?
Now Amazon for instance has RSUs as a big part of their compensation package as opposed to higher base salaries. However, I believe from what I’ve read that they offer stock specified as units, not in terms of price. What would the ruling be in this scenario?
I would like to know if you got a response to the stock units question as I was also offered this a year ago.
They offer the Stock in number of units and not in value. What does this mean from a salary perspective and how much of this is permissible to keep/cash when it vests.
So I am just at the beginning of studying to work as an AWS DevOps engineer, should I give it up? Is it considered Halal or not? Really confused and would appreciate an answer…
can i please know the reason behind the difference between the both, since getting a job in a company means that i am promoting and doing the activities of the company… which means that company should be halal. Also, the one who will work in the company will get salary from this company… so it must be halal.
i hope you can clarify this issue ya shiekh and jazak Allahu khairn.
I hope to hear from @Mufti_Billal if his view is same as Mufti Faraz.
Some scholars are of the view that the source of income is relevant, whilst others are of view that it is not a cause of concern in setups where the employers are not Muslim.
We should be cautious of the source of income in any case.
The main focus should be whether the job description is Halal.
I was wondering if you were able to understand how to navigate the issue. I have been working for Amazon and recently became aware of the issue. Would be great to discuss this with someone likeminded and with similar concerns.
Mufti saheb,
How do we know the public company or a private company are muslims/non muslim as shareholder are many that comprises of both muslim and non muslims.