It is not permissible for you to take this student loan because it involves a riba-based condition and you stated that you do not need that loan.

What is required of one who seized wealth by force or stole it is to return the currency in accordance with its value on the day on which it was seized or stolen. If what was stolen was particular items, then the thief is liable for any drop in prices. In the case of other debts, there should be differentiation between small and great changes in the value of currency. If the change is small, and does not reach one third of the debt, then the same amount must be paid back, and no attention should be paid to the value of the loan when it was given. But if there was a big change, as much as one third or more, then an agreement must be worked out between the two parties to share the loss. If it is decided that payment is to be made on the basis of the value of the loan on the day when it was given, then it should be worked out according to the price of gold at the time when the loan was given, or according to the purchasing power of the currency at that time, but it should be paid back in a different currency than that in which the loan was given.

Loans should be repaid in the same currency as they were taken by the borrower unless the two parties agree at the time of repayment to repay it in a different currency. There is nothing wrong with that so long as that is done at the rate of exchange on the day of repayment not the rate of exchange that existed on the day when the loan was given.

Discount coupons which are obtained in return for payment are prohibited because they involve several infractions of Islamic teachings. Free coupons that are offered to purchasers without them having to pay anything in return are permissible and there is nothing wrong with using them and benefitting from them.

Conclusion: Social insurance that is provided by the state is a kind of permissible insurance, and it is more akin to cooperative insurance. There is nothing wrong with joining it and benefitting from it, whether it is compulsory or voluntary. For more information on this topic, please see the following: Al-Ahkaam at-Taba‘iyyah li ‘Uqood at-Ta’meen by Dr Ahmad ibn Hamad al-Wanees At-Ta’meen at-Takaafuli al-Islami by Dr ‘Ali Muhyi ad-Deen al-Qurrah Daaghi Ma‘aalim at-Ta’meen al-Islami by Dr Saalih al-‘Ali and Dr Sameeh al-Hasan. And Allah knows best.

The most important difference between cooperative insurance and commercial insurance is that the money deducted for cooperative insurance is not owned by the committee that is administering the fund; rather it remains a donation that is to be spent on whoever meets the conditions. In contrast, the administrators of commercial health insurance funds have ownership of the subscriptions and deductibles paid by the subscribers, and that is included in their personal accounts, in return for the administration committee being committed to treat anyone who meets the conditions.

It is permissible to deal in currencies if the deal is done hand to hand and the transaction is free of conditions that stipulate Riba, such as the stipulation of fees for delaying the deal, which is interest that is charged to the investor if he does not take a decision concerning the deal on the same day.

There is nothing wrong with you designing a drawing or writing to be put on a T-shirt, so that if the T-shirt is sold via Amazon, you will get a share of its price, and if it is not sold you will not get anything.

If two people form a partnership, one of them contributing capital and the other contributing labour, then the financial loss is to be borne by the one who put money into it, and the worker loses his labour, unless there was some negligence on the worker’s part, in which case he also incurs financial loss. However, if both of them contribute capital to the project, then losses are to be borne commensurate with the share that each of them put into it.

It is not permissible for the worker who does business with the capital in a Mudarabah project to have a fixed monthly salary; he is not entitled to anything except the share agreed upon between him and the financier.