I am writing with regard to the post "This is another form of slavery" (Aug. 31). A leading Saudi scholar has said that the leasing of expats is a permissible business. With all respect to the scholar, this may be so if it is done systematically and without a greedy wish to earn money which is not halal. However, there are thousands of cases where the sponsor is paid a fixed monthly amount by the employee without taking into consideration what the employee earns each month. Is such money earned by the sponsor halal? And on top of that many sponsors impose an unreasonably high service charge for everything they do for an employee. For example, some sponsors charge SR 5,000 to SR15,000 for the renewal of the employee's iqama (residence permit). Shakeel, Online response In my view low-paid employees are hired from abroad and unemployed Saudis are ignored for these positions. The time has come to stop recruiting drivers and other employees from abroad and instead recruit Saudis at higher salaries. Saleem Raza, Online response