Question
I wanted to know what is the fatwa regarding an organization called "Crescent Lifestyle" based in Johannesburg? They want a monthly payment of R69 per adult which they use for the poor and needy. But with the R69 they also give an AA roadside assistance to the value of R300, discounts at certain partner stores and above that you stand a chance of winning a umrah ticket. They say they have 49 000 subscribers and now coming to Kzn. There are various other benefits and others all for the R69. In simple terms I know that anything that you pay for and getting something in return is haraam, just like entering in a charitable competition for R2 to win a cake is totally haraam. Is it permissible? Are the benefits permissible? Where does the rest of the money comes from for example the AA or the umrah ticket, is it from the same charity? They stated that ml. Suleman Moola is their Islamic advisor.
Answer
Don't be fooled by the charity prizes and charity chimera they are dangling in front of the public. Crescent Lifestyle operates like an insurance company. The deal you have described is not permissible. It is a haraam insurance contract. They net millions in haraam profit in these insurance schemes, hence doling out prizes and awarding umrah tickets are peanuts for them. Where the 'rest of the money comes from' is not a conundrum. With almost 70,000 subscribers, their boodle netted monthly is R3.5 million. This equates to R42 million per year. It is indeed mind-boggling fleecing and blood-sucking. Doling out a lousy ticket, etc. for a mock 'imrah' and other peanut prizes are thin veneers with which the massive annual boodle is being covered.
It is not permissible to join this club. The prizes are not permissible since they are not pure gifts, but the effects of insurance which is maisar (gambling) in terms of the Shariah.
- Source
- themajlis.co.za
- Published in
- The Majlis Vol 23 No 11
- PDF page
- 4
Appears under CRESCENT OF LIFE INSURANCE (approximate).