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Fatwa CenterGetting percentage of invested money for surfing ads
Question
Recently, I found a couple of websites that let you invest with them, how ever dealing with them doesn't look as usury as it works different that being usury. For example: www.studiotraffic.com, www.12dailypro.com. They let you invest any amount less than 6000$. 1) Which you can't withdraw once you invested. 2) And you get a constant percentage of your invested money 'If and Only If' if you work for them (the work is surfing advertisement for them, the advertisements are supervision). If you don't surf the advertisement for them, you never get paid anything, and you lose your money, and if you surf the ads for them, you get a constant % of your total money invested. All this for limited days and then your investment finishes and you get back the profit. For more details, please check the 2 websites posted and read their FAQs and Terms. Please I need a detailed answer. Because many of Muslims are involved in this without they know whether it is Halaal or no, they think it is Halaal. I will be waiting your replay very soon, thank you very much and may Allaah bless on all who work on this great website.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
What you asked about is simply a hiring contract to work in this company in order to surf some websites in return for a percentage based on the amount one invested at the beginning. This amount is not given back to him whether or not he works for them (i.e., it is non-refundable). There is no doubt that the company which takes this amount from the person is doing nothing but cheating and gambling, and this is forbidden in our religion. Allaah Says (what means): {O you believe, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allaah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it.} [Quran 5:90]
Also, Abu Hurayrah 
narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam , forbade selling by throwing stones (i.e., by lottery) and from selling that which is unspecified or unclear. [Muslim]
Selling that which is unspecified or unclear is any sale in which the product is unknown, and may not be sure to get the goods or not, so this is nothing but gambling. Since this is forbidden in selling, it is also forbidden in hiring. The scholars
have stated that, “Hiring in this context is like buying, as in reality the sale is nothing but selling in return for a benefit.”
Furthermore, it is not permissible for the company one works for to take any amount (i.e., from the invested money) in return for his work as a hired person in it, as the company deducts this money from the hired person without any right and without any justification.
Hiring, as defined by scholars is a contract on things from which one could benefit in return for some money. For this hiring to be valid, the same conditions as that of a sale have to be met; which is that the wages should be known and pure, which one can benefit from and from which one is able to acquire. The benefit from this should be the same.
Based on the above, the subject about which you asked contains some prohibitions
1. The company pays a commission without benefit (in Islamic terms), but this is just to surf websites to show to the people who deal with them that their site is widely visited by surfers and this encourages them to buy their product through these sites. This is clear deception and is forbidden.
2. The person who participates in this company may have paid an amount for which he will gain something that is not religiously justified but simply in order to get a gain through that method.
3. The hiring contract is not defined, but it is a commission based on a given amount, and this may decrease or increase according to the choice of the customer. This could take the form of two sales in one sale. Abu Hurayrah said that, "The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, forbade two sales in one sale." [At-Tirmithi, An-Nasaa'i]
4. Having visited the website in question, it became clear that it contains other things which are prohibited according to Islam.
Based on all the above, it is not permissible to participate in such websites.
Allaah Knows best.
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