Title

1)Is purchase from drop shipping permissible? 2)Where should the non-baligh children stand in Jama’at.

Question

Q. Is it permissible to sell an item which you don't have in stock. 'Drop Shipping' is quite popular with online retailers / Ebayers. For example, company A advertises items which are owned by company B (a totally separate entity). When company A sells an item online, the customer pays for the item. It then tells company B to dispatch the item to the customer from company B warehouse and thereafter company A gets a commission form company B. Is this permissible to do?

Q. What's the ruling on having a boy aged 11years stand by himself behind the row of men in jamaat, or should he join the rows of the men?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

1-Drop Shipping works in two different ways. The way expressed in the question is not clear. Hereunder are the two ways in which drop shipping is normally done.

Seller “A” advertises an item on the website such as e-bay. “A” does not have the item in his possession at the time of the advertisement. Purchaser “B” answers to this advertisement and places his order by paying the amount to “A”. Once “A” receives the order and payment into his account either via Paypal or a similar service, “A” further places an order to the wholesale merchant (drop shipper) “C” at a wholesale price. “C” then dispatches the merchandise to “B” while “A” keeps the difference of listed price and wholesale price as his profit.

This way of drop-shipping is not permissible since “A” is selling an item which is not in his possession.[1]

The shariah compliant alternative for this form of drop-shipping is to do the transaction through the model of “Salam”. In Salam after receiving the money, “A” (muslam ilayh) will purchase the item from the wholesaler “C” and then make “C” his agent to deliver the item to “B”. The process would remain same except for that the following information will have to be explicitly advertised.

·        Seller “A” would have to pronounce in his advertisement beforehand that he is not in possession of the item and will arrange its delivery once the rabbul maal “B” has paid the money.

·        Complete description of the item being sold will have to be advertised.

·        The time duration for delivery will have to be advertised.

2-The Fuqaha have stated that children should stand behind the adult men in salah. But if there is only one child, he may stand in the saff of the men. It will be better to stand on the left sides of the saff. 

Fataawah Mahmoodiyah, V9, P465, Maktabah Mahmoodiyah. 

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Mufti Mouhammad Yassine Panchbhaya,
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