Question Summary:
I have a question about the Shariah-compliance of an online company that pools your money with other advertisers and shares the profits?

Question Detail:

Aww,
There is a program on the net, whereby you pay some money to buy advertising. This allows you to advertise your own business or website to other people who have also bought advertising from the same company. Each person who buys advertising becomes a member.
But when you buy the advertising, you get something extra.
The company collects all the money from the people who buy advertising and then, they share this same money out to its members. They say they are sharing their profits with their members, and they end up giving you more than the amount you put in.
They generally say that we will give you x amount over so many days.
In effect, the money seems to be passed around from new members to old.
Is participating in this program in line with shariah?
JK

Answer :

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
The information provided in your question is not sufficient for us to determine the Shariah-compliance of the product in question.
Kindly forward the website and all other relevant details from the company so that we can study in detail and reply accordingly.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mawlana Sohail ibn Arif,
Student Darul Iftaa
Chicago, USA
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.