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Fatwa CenterSelling goods using Network Marketing Scheme
Question
Dear Sir, I have recently joined an American company called "Forever Living Products" in Morocco, which sells its products using Network Marketing Scheme. This scheme is legal and is NOT pyramidal as described in the link: http://www.network-marketing-business-school.com/pyramid-scheme.html To join the network, I spent about 730 US Dollar by buying its products. I am using half of them for my personal use and sold the rest to my family and friends. We are very satisfied about the quality of the products. The next step of this business is building the network by motivating people about the business opportunity and explaining the various advantages of these products compared to others based on personal experience. As long as the network goes larger, I have access to bonuses generated by the products' selling all over that network. But to gain these bonuses, the company requires that I spend at least 1460 US Dollar / month myself buying the products or by recruiting at least 3 people that will spend 1095 US Dollar / month with only 365 US Dollar for me to spend then. As a reason for doing this, the company says that I must be an "active distributor" to gain bonuses. I want to know whether these bonuses gained are legitimate in Islam knowing that lot of efforts and money is spent to build the network and maintain it ? Thank you for your response.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The essence of the marketing scheme which you mentioned is based on gambling and risk as you spent your money and bought the products of the company not because you needed it but in order to participate in the Marketing Network Scheme that the company follows. Therefore, it is forbidden to participate in it or to invite people to participate in it.
Finally, it should be mentioned that if a transaction is Islamically forbidden, it does not become lawful just because man-made laws permit it.
Allaah Knows best.
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