QUESTION:

As Salaamu Alaikum,

I am writing to ask about my situation in which my now deceased grandmother opened a Unit Trust account with her name as well as my name as a joint holder so that I may benefit from it when I’m older. At the time I was child and I was present but I didn’t have any understanding about the permissible/impermissible ruling of such money. I’ve only recently found the paperwork pertaining to it and wondered if this is impermissible to partake of and if so, what would be a suitable means of rectifying this situation? Would it be permissible to give it away to relatives or to strangers etc.?

ANSWER:

Wa Alaikum As Salaam,

By opening a Unit Trust account, your grandmother invested monies in the Unit Trust Corporation that will bring about ‘profit/returns’ which she would have benefited from, and you also, being a joint holder, would have benefited.

The issue with this is that the monies of individual account holders are pooled together and then invested in companies and stocks that are both lawful and unlawful for Muslims, and it is difficult for an account holder to identify exactly where his/her funds are invested. If you know that the funds were invested in Islamically lawful companies and products, then the profits/returns will be Halal for you to use. If you know that the funds were invested in unlawful companies and products, then the profits/returns will be unlawful for you to use, and you must give it to poor and needy people.

If you got information that some of the funds were invested in Islamically lawful companies while some were invested in unlawful companies, then if you can identify the amount received from the lawful companies, this will be permissible for you to use. As for that which is received from the investments done in unlawful companies, this will be unlawful for you to use and must be given to the poor and needy.

If it is difficult to find out where the monies were invested, and you are doubtful, then you should give the profits/returns to poor and needy people and not use it. In all these situations, you are allowed to collect the capital sum that was invested or placed – in the account by your grandmother. This will be lawful for you to use.

The amount to be given away in the above cases will only be the profits/returns, and not the capital amount that was deposited by your grandmother when she opened the Unit Trust account.

And Allah Knows best

Mufti Waseem Khan

21/10/2025