Is Earning Money from Website Ads Permissible in Islam?

Question: 198784

What is the ruling on earning money from advertising websites such as Neobux by paying some money upfront? You pay a sum of money first, five hundred dollars, to subscribe to it for one year, then every week it sends you ads to look at, and every week it gives you fifty dollars, for a year, thirteen months. What is the ruling on such transactions?

Summary of answer

If you cannot interact with these websites except by paying a subscription fee, then it is not permissible for you to deal with them, because that comes under the heading of gambling with one’s money and Riba-based transactions in the contract.

Answer

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

If you cannot interact with these websites except by paying a subscription fee , then it is not permissible for you to deal with them, because that comes under the heading of gambling with one’s money and Riba-based transactions in the contract.

Dr Sami As-Suwaylim (may Allah preserve him) was asked about a similar issue, and he replied:

“The websites mentioned offer commission in return for checking the ads that they have, and these payments are of two types:

One type pays you just for checking the ads , without paying any subscription or fees of any kind. There is nothing wrong with this type – in Sha Allah – so long as the ads do not contain anything that is prohibited according to Islamic teachings, and they do not include ads for anything that is prohibited or objectionable.
Another type that involves paying a non-refundable subscription fee, in addition to checking the ads , and the amount of commission paid varies according to the size of the subscription fee. The greater the subscription fee, the more commission is paid, up to a certain limit. Part of these fees is used to cover the expenses of the company running the website, and the rest is distributed in the form of commission to other subscribers.

It is quite clear that the commission in this type involves an exchange of cash for cash, so the subscriber pays the fee, and from this fee others get their commission, and vice versa, and what comes from the sale of ads and the like is less than the income generated by the subscriptions. So the income mostly comes from subscriptions and commission is paid from that income. This type involves the exchange of cash for cash, along with variation in the amount and delay, let alone the deceit and ambiguity having related the subscriptions. Thus, it combines Riba and gambling.

And Allah knows best. May Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions.” (From the website Almoslim.net)

And Allah knows best.

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