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I have heard so much about parents? rights in Islam and that it is forbidden to break family ties, but I also know that though there are rules, there are usually exceptions to the rules too. My mother is mentally ill (she even admits it herself.) She traumatised me my whole childhood. There was not a time I did not have bruises on my body from a very young age. She told me once that she had planned on killing me when she found out she was having a girl because she did not want me to get raped. I spent my whole life afraid of her.

As for my father. He did not do anything to protect me from my mother when they were still married or even afterwards. He never went to work or provided for me one day of my life.

I forgive them both only because I want forgiveness from Allah SWT for my sins on the day of judgement. But, what do I owe them? Do I really have to keep family ties with them when just the thought alone makes me feel anxious and so stressed that I cannot think straight?

It is permissible to break relations with family if not doing so would bring harm to your faith and religion, and detriment to your person or property. However, it is rarely the case that one cannot perform the minimum requirement of maintaining relations even taking such harm into account. This minimal form of maintaining relations can be in the form of a phone call in which you send your regards and ask how they are doing. In fact, one can do this by way of another person (asking that person to send your regards to them and ask about them). The point is that you should not break relations with them, and you should let it be known that you care about them, even if you do not see them or speak with them directly.

• family relations
• home
• permissibility

There are some sugar companies that are using animal bones in their products, does that sugar count as halal to eat or not?

If the bones are from an animal that is permissible to consume (like a cow, sheep or chicken, as opposed to a pig) which may or may not have been slaughtered according to Islamic law, then there is no problem. However, if you know that the animal was not slaughtered according to Islamic law, then the bones must be washed before being added to the product.

• halal food
• haram food

I sold a property, do I have to pay khums on the proceeds of the sale? If I buy a new place [with the proceeds] to live in do I still need to pay khums?

Regardless of when your khums date is, you do not have to pay khums on the money as long as you use it to buy a new home [to live in] before a calendar year passes.

• property

What is the ruling on trading, selling and buying in digital currencies such as Bitcoin and other currencies?

His Eminence Sayyid al-Sistani has not answered this question yet due to a lack of sufficient information [related to the specifics, transactional procedures and valuation of bitcoin]. However, it would be useful to give the following explanation as guidance and general education until the Office in Holy Najaf issues an official a response.

Every legitimate transaction involves four essential components: the seller, the buyer, the item being sold/purchased, and the price, which the buyer pays (e.g. with money) to the seller in exchange for the item. For a transaction to be valid and acceptable from a jurisprudential (i.e. Islamically) standpoint, these four components must be clearly defined and clarified for both the buyer and seller in the market. Furthermore, there are also a set of other conditions that must be met for each one of these components.

Given that Bitcoin lacks the essential components of a [legitimate] transaction and fails to meet its conditions, or at least given that some of the conditions or the specific details of the item being sold (i.e. for which money would normally be paid in exchange) are not clear, it is not possible for the jurist to state that such a transaction is permissible from a jurisprudential perspective. Rather, spending money in exchange for it would be a kind of destruction, and destroying money is not religiously permissible.

• bitcoin
• cryptocurrency
• money

I offer salat and fasting for three of my family members who are now deceased. I usually make a niyyah (intention) on the first day of each month that all of my fasting and lapsed prayers, other than my own, will be for a particular family member that I have selected for that month. Is making a niyyah once at the beginning sufficient or do I need to make a niyyah for every single prayer or fasting.

You can do that (i.e. make one niyyah) if the lapsed acts [of your deceased relatives] were mustahhab. However, a separate niyyah is needed for each make-up you perform for wajib lapsed acts.

• deceased
• niyyah

Is dog hair or cat hair considered najis? And will prayer not be valid if there is dog hair on you?

Dog hair is impure (najis). The cut hair is not najis but it should not be on your body, clothes, or the prayer place during the prayer. Cat hair is not najis, if there is one, two or three cat hairs on a person's body or clothes their prayer is in order but if there are more than that, the prayer becomes void, as an obligatory precaution.

• cat
• dogs
• najasat
• najis

Is investment in the US stock market permissible? The assumption is that we avoid stocks of companies that are involved in haram activities such as gambling, alcoholic drinks, etc.

Investment in the US stock market is permissible as long as you are knowingly investing in a company that does not participate in forbidden (haram) activities. In the case of a mutual fund that may contain a company that participates in forbidden activities, you must take out an amount of your investment profits that is equal to the ratio of the companies that participate in forbidden activities (from the whole of the companies in the mutual funds) and donate it to charity (sadaqah).

• haram
• investments
• stock market

From Sayyid Sistani's rulings, gelatin is permissible to eat, whether or not it has been derived from an animal, as long as it undergoes a chemical change. My question is, does gelatin in candy undergo a chemical change making it permissible to eat? When does a chemical change occur?

Unfortunately, it is not within our capability to determine whether a chemical change occurs or not. However, the general principle is that the gelatin must be transformed into a new substance such that we would no longer call it "gelatin". The way wood turns to ash when it is burned, and thereafter we do not refer to ash as "wood" anymore. If such a change occurs, then it is permissible to consume.

• chemical change
• gelatin

Collagen from unknown source is used in most of the creams. So, is applying these creams correct?

Collagen is always derived from an animal source, hence if it comes from an unknown source [or purchased from a non-Muslim store] then it would be najis. This means that a person cannot perform acts (e.g. prayers) that require ritual purity if it is applied to the body.

• collagen
• cosmetic products

During sujood (i.e. prostration) in wajib prayers, is it permissible to recite a dua or is that only in the last sajdah of prayer? If it is permissible, what are the mustahab supplications that are to be recited during sujood?

It is recommended to recite dua in sujood or ruku' in all the units of prayers.
There are different dua that can be recited such as:
يا خير المسؤولين ويا خير المعطين ارزقني وارزق عيالي من فضلك فإنك ذوالفضل العظيم

And the most important one is the salutation on the prophet and his progeny (pbuh&hp) which is:
اللهم صل على محمد وآل محمد

• mustahab
• ruku
• sajdah