Question

As Salaamu Alaykum, quite some years ago I remember going to a local Islamic shop that would sell itrs and sprays and they would have testers and I have it in my head that my friend and I would use the testers but I don’t think I had an intention to buy them, I was just using it for myself, I think I would have done this more than once, that shop has closed now but it was connected to a Madrassa and I don’t know if the owners were teachers or their affiliation to the Madrassa. Secondly I remember doing this at store in the local town with perfume where I didn’t intend to buy it but to smell nice, I’m not sure if it happened more than once. In this two cases would I owe anything to each shop and what should I do if one or both have closed, the latter being a non Muslim store.

Answer

Samples and tasters are there to try and encourage customers to purchase. Usually there is no expectation that a person can only use the sample if they are interested in purchasing. Based on this we do not see any reason why you would have to pay anything to these shops for using their tasters.

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel