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Fatwas / Sales Fatawa / The issue of a delayed sale involving gold and silver where rulings of interest are applicable.

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Respected Shaykh, may you please respond to my question in detail. I am in dire need of an answer because the issue is related to my daily life as well as many of my friend’s daily lives. May Allah reward you and use you and your knowledge to benefit others. 

If interest is found in specific types of goods mentioned by the hadith which are: (gold, silver, dates, barely, wheat, salt and raisins) whereby if the types differ on the same category like dates, exchange surplus or delaying in payment is not permissible. If the categories differ like dates and barley then exchange surplus is permissible whereas it is not permissible to delay the payment. If a category that involves interest is sold for a category that does not involve interest then both exchange surplus and delaying of payment are permissible. The scholars mentioned that the Usury-cause (Ellah) found in the categories prone to usury/interest as weight in terms of currencies and measurement or edible for the remaining ones.

Does this mean that every food that can be measured or weighed falls under categories that involve interest like cooking oil, milk, rice, bread made from flour, some fruits and greens? Or does it mean that metals that can be weighed are compared with gold and silver? What is meant by this question is that if interest of delaying applies to these categories, does it mean that buying them on credit is considered as interest of delaying? More so when many people buy household necessities from shops on credit and they pay at the beginning of each month. Goods found at a grocery shops are so many which include cheese, milk, flour, bread made from flour, rice, etc. prohibiting people from doing this will cause them hardship and difficulty especially those who get little salary as well as increasing unlawful things on them. How is it possible to differentiate between goods where delayed sale is permissible and other gods where it is not when many things that are purchased are kinds of foods that either measured or weighed? Moreover, shop owners buy wholesale goods such as margarine, rice and other goods on credit, is this permissible? What is the way out for shop owners who do not have cash? May you please clarify in this case how it can be possible to differentiate between goods that involve interest and the ones that do not. What is the ruling on buying on credit from grocer shops where payment is made at the end of the month? What is the ruling on a trader purchasing bulk goods on credit? Does metal have the same ruling as gold and silver in terms of not being permissible to sell it or buy it, except if payment is made on the spot?

مسألة في بيع الأصناف الربوية بالنقدين آجلاً

Answer

Praise be to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and his companions.

To proceed:

Buying four types of goods, ones in which laws of interest are applicable - and these are dates, barley, wheat, salt - buying these with the two currencies, i.e. gold and silver, or with others with a similar ruling (as gold and silver), is permissible according to the scholarly consensus, and there is no difference of opinion in this regard.

What is not permissible to be sold on credit are types of goods which have same usury-trait (ellah العلة), such as selling wheat in exchange for dates. Immediate exchange of goods is necessary in this case. Another example of this is selling barely for salt or gold for silver (because each of these three examples include exchange/sale of two items both of which share the same usury-trait i.e. ellah العلة).

However, there is no difference of opinion regarding the permissibility of selling one of the four types of goods (of one usury-trait) for gold or silver (of a different usury-trait) on credit (i.e. delaying handing over of either the price or the goods to a later time).

The correct ruling regarding  sale of iron (or any metal other than gold and silver) is that it is permissible to sell it on credit because all these metals are neither gold nor silver (i.e. ONLY gold and silver have usury-trait (ellah) and hence cannot sell one of these two for the other on delayed payment, i.e. credit - contents of brackets are added by translator for clarification for English reader)

Your brother,

Dr. Khalid al-Mosleh

11 / 11 / 1424 AH

 


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