Is it permissible to pay a partner in a Shirkat a wage for his services?

Answer

The mufti who presented as his 'daleel' (proof) the fatwa of Mufti Rashid of Pakistan can't be a genuine Mufti. He must be one of those tin-topped molvis masquerading as a Mufti. A genuine Mufti basis his rulings on Shar'i dalaail (evidences), not on a view of a contemporary Mufti

who is liable to err. Citing the error of a Mufti as a basis for a view is darkness compounded with darkness.

Regarding the mas'alah under discussion, the tin-topped mufti has only displayed his ignorance while the venerable Mufti Rashid of Pakistan has erred in his fatwa. Such errors do happen. Great Muftis also err. The error does not detract from his lofty status in the department of Ifta. In a past issue of The Majlis or perhaps in some other article we had dissected Mufti Rashid's fatwa and pointed out his error. Mufti Rashid (rahmatullah alayh) is not the final word in the Shari-

ah nor was he a Mujtahid. He was a Muqallid Mufti of the Hanafi Math-hab.

The fourteen century ruling of the Aimmah-e-Mujtahideen and the Fuqaha, in other words of the Shariah, is that wages for a partner in a Shirkat (Partnership) venture are not permissible. Such wages are in the category of Riba. To seek to overturn this 14 century Ruling of the Fuqaha and to summarily dismiss it without daleel and merely saying that a certain Mufti says that it is permissible, is a lamentable commentary on the knowledge of the tin-topped mufti who had sought to perpetuate the error of Hadhrat Mufti Rashid (rahmatullah alayh). Wages for a partner are haraam.