Is it permissible to subscribe to the “Tasweeq Net” company?
Question

                Is it permissible to subscribe to the “Tasweeq Net (marketing net)” company?.
Praise be to Allah.This company’s activities 
    are similar to those of the “Business” company, and the scholars have stated 
    that it is haraam to subscribe to this company. The “Tasweeq net” company is 
    no different from “Business” apart from the fact that they sell a product 
    that has some value, but the purpose is not the product, rather it is 
    marketing. These companies are based on what is known as “pyramid selling”. 

    Shaykh Saami ibn Ibraaheem al-Suwaylim said: 

    The essential idea behind pyramid selling is simple and may 
    be summed up as follows: a person buys the company’s products in return for 
    the opportunity to convince others to do what he did (i.e., buy the 
    company’s products), and he receives payment or commission in return for 
    that. Then each of these people who joined the program has to convince 
    others to buy as well, and the first one gets increased commission [?] and 
    so on. 

    The reason why it is haraam to join this type of program may 
    be explained by the following points: 

    1 – It is based on consuming wealth unlawfully 

    2 – It is based on ambiguity (and deceit) that is forbidden 
    in sharee’ah. 

    Consuming wealth unlawfully:

    It is clear from the above that this kind of program cannot 
    grow without there being someone who will lose out to the interests of those 
    who profit from it, whether it stops growing or not.  Loss is inevitable for 
    the final levels of the pyramid in all cases, and without it the higher 
    levels cannot gain their astronomical commission. The losers will be in the 
    majority and only a few will profit, i.e., the few will take the wealth of 
    the majority unlawfully. This is consuming wealth unlawfully which the 
    Qur’aan forbids. The economists call this a zero-sum game, whereby what some 
    gain is what the others lose. 

    Ambiguity:

    The basic meaning of the kind of ambiguity that is haraam is 
    paying money in exchange for something which one thinks is most likely not 
    to exist, or may exist in a manner that is not desired. Hence the fuqaha’ 
    said: ambiguity is uncertainty between two things, the most likely of which 
    is the one that the person fears or dislikes most. The one who joins these 
    schemes pays money in return for profits that are unlikely to be realized. 

    Conclusion: 

    Schemes that are based on pyramid selling, including the 
    scheme mentioned in the question, are based on consuming wealth unlawfully 
    and deceiving others, because this pyramid cannot continue forever, and when 
    it stops the result will be that a few will gain at the expense of the 
    majority. The logic of pyramid marketing depends on huge profits for the top 
    levels at the expense of the lower levels of the pyramid, and the last 
    levels will always lose out, even if we assume that the pyramid will never 
    end. The fact that there is a product does not make this scheme permissible, 
    rather this makes it come under the heading of deceit which is haraam. And 
    Allaah knows best. 

    The Shaykh also said concerning the “Tasweeq net” company in 
    particular: 

    The system mentioned in the question is a pyramid marketing 
    system, which may appear in a variety of forms, but may be summed up as 
    being a system where the subscriber persuades others to buy in order to join 
    the marketing scheme. As long as the commission is greater than the price of 
    the product, the aim behind buying is primarily to earn commission; the 
    product is a secondary concern. Based on that, it is not allowed according 
    to sharee’ah because it involves ambiguity and consuming wealth unlawfully, 
    because the subscriber does not know whether he will succeed in convincing 
    others to join or not. If he does succeed, he will be making profit at their 
    expense and the expense of the money they pay to subscribe, and if he does 
    not then he will lose out to the tune of whatever portion of his original 
    payment went towards marketing, and those who joined through him will suffer 
    the same fate, so every level of the pyramid will lose out, unless there is 
    a level or two beneath him who will bear the brunt of the loss, and so on. 

    See also questions no. 
    40263 and 41620. 
And Allaah knows 
    best.