Transporting children to school
Question:-
I am providing transport for school-going children/students. I send the parents a message that fees are to be paid by the beginning of the month. Is it correct to do so?
I also told parents that I will charge them for transport for the month, whether the student goes to school or not. Similarly, they will be required to pay for transport during school holidays and public holidays. Is this correct?
Answer:-
The agreement between you as the transporter and the parents (of the children that you will be transporting to school), is a hiring agreement. They are hiring your services whereby you will be transporting their children to school or Madrasah in lieu of a stipulated fee.
In the terminology of Fiqh, you are termed as “Ajeer-e-Mushtarak.” This simply means that you are not an employee that is only employed by a particular individual or employer, rather, you provide a service to a number of individuals. In this scenario, you are entitled to a fee on completion of the work only. We therefore suggest that you bill your clients on a weekly basis (after transporting the kids), if waiting for your funds until the end of the month is difficult.
والأجراء على ضربين: أجيرٌ مشتركٌ، وأجيرٌ خاصٌ، فالمشترك: من لا يستحق الأجرة حتى يعمل كالصباغ والقصار (اللباب في شرح الكتاب – كتاب الاجارة)
However, some of the current day Fatwa Kitaabs state that if the landlord attaches a condition that the rental must be paid up front, then there is no harm in doing so, particularly if there is consent and happiness from the side of tenant (to abide to the arrangement.) Based on this ruling, you as the transporter may request an upfront payment (for your services), as long as your clients happily agree to the arrangement.
[Re:- Jadeed Muaa’malaat Ke Shari’ee Ahkaam Pg.253 Vol.1]
Secondly, it is understood from the above discussion, that an Ajeer-e-Mushtarak is only entitled to a fee if he carries out and completes the work for his client. In other words, if he doesn’t carry out any work, he is not entitled to a fee. Hence, in the above scenario, if the children are absent from school or it is a public holiday, then you are not entitled to charge a fee. However, the parent should inform you in advance that the child will not be attending school (in the case of absenteeism), so that a place is not reserved for the child. If you were not informed and you therefore reserved a place for the child, then you will be entitled to charging a fee.
One way of overcoming the issue is by a charging a higher daily transport rate. You should inform the parents that there will no charge for transport on holidays and when the child is absent, but, on condition that you are informed in advance that they won’t be attending, hence, your rate is slightly higher.