Can I claim back my invested money from my partner who negligently lost it in business?

· 5 Dhuʻl-Qiʻdah 1434 AH2 min readFatwa 26827English
Finance and Commerce

Question

Few years ago one guy who i did not know very well came to me and asked me to invest in a business where he will do all the technical work and my investments will be in the form of money. He assured me that he is very well familiar with the business as well as all the technical aspects and personally knew the buyers so there is no chance of cheating by the buyer and so on. I trusted him and gave him the money, He also promised us that in case we lose money because of his mistake he will return all the money back to us.

To make long story short this guy made us loose all the money in the business due to his insufficient knowledge and technical details which he initially claimed he was master of and on top of that all his business contacts came out dishonest and cheated all the money on the goods he sold to them without any protection such as getting any down payments or agreements from them.

My question is that now is it valid for us to ask him to give our money back as he was not as good as he claimed he was and he trusted wrong people and caused us big loss because of his foolishness. If he is bound to give our money back to us and refuses to pay then please let us know what will be his punishment in hereafter according to Quran and Sunnah?

Answer

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

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

It would be more appropriate for you to enquire about the procedure and Shariah compliancy of the transaction before committing to it. Furthermore, your question does not explain the details of the partnership. Therefore, we are unable to comment.

However, in general, if the partner who is responsible for the management of the business is negligent, reckless, untruthful or fraudulent in managing the business, then he will be liable for damage caused to the investment.[1]

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Nabeel Valli

Student Darul Iftaa
Zambia

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.

www.daruliftaa.net

References (Arabic / Urdu sources)

[1] و شرط الضمان فيه التعدي (رد المحتار ، ج 6 ، ص 88 ، ايج ايم سعيد )

لان التسبب على وجه التعدي سبب الضمان (البحر الرائق شرح كنز الدقائق ، ج7 ، ص 128 ، ايج ايم سعيد )

Answered by
Nabeel Valli
Checked & approved by
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
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