Q 2: Private contracts of renting out, for instance, flats or shops include a punitive condition to the effect that tenants should pay rent regularly on definite timings without receiving claims and when they are late; tenants pay fines of 10% of the rents' values for every delayed month. Is such an increase considered a type of Riba (usury/interest) or is the concerned sum Halal (lawful)? It is worth mentioning that, according to the contract, the rent of the asset is constant for five years or more and renewable for a similar period with no increase. I hope that your Eminence will kindly give me a Fatwa on this according to rulings of Shari`ah (Islamic law) for today's employers innovate many conditions to secure only their interests without considering the interests of the second party. I ask Allah to guide me and all my Muslim brothers and to help your Eminence inform me of that which leads to goodness and righteousness for Verily, Allah is all-Hearing and Responsive.