Can I Be Compensated Through a Right of Purchase?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

 

Question

A company wants to pay me my bonus by giving me the right to purchase shares at an upfront and agreed upon fixed price. I receive this right only after I complete one year of work. After the one year is over, I have X days to exercise my right of purchasing the share at the initial agreed upon price. 

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate

Walaikum assalam,

I hope you’re doing well, insha’Allah. 

It is permitted for you to accept such a bonus, even if contractually stipulated.

This right of purchase is a customarily-made clause and not of clear harm. Such clauses, unless clearly prohibited or against clear principles of Islamic law, are permitted and valid. [Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar; Atasi, Sharh al-Majalla]

And Allah is the giver of success and facilitation. 

Wassalam,

[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani 

 

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus and Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), and his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.