Purchasing bonds to pay the passport fee with an increase
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. When one of us renews his passport, he must pay its value at the bank and receive a voucher for it. Sometimes we find people who have vouchers and sell them to us for an extra ten riyals, so we take the vouchers from them. Is this permissible, or is it considered riba (usury or interest)?
The Shaykh:
No, they buy them and sell them; it is not riba (usury or interest), it is not selling dirhams for dirhams. They buy the bonds at a certain value and sell them, but the issue is that there is a fear of collusion between the employees and these brokers, and it may lead to manipulation. Therefore, it was presented, but nothing was done regarding it because it is not clear that it is prohibited; its prohibition is not clear, yes, and there is hesitation regarding its permissibility. So the Muslim should avoid this and go to review and get his passport without this method; that is better for him and for his conscience. Yes.
The questioner:
And Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
If he is suffering, he must be patient. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. When one of us renews his passport, he must pay its value at the bank and receive a voucher for it. Sometimes we find people who have vouchers and sell them to us for an extra ten riyals, so we take the vouchers from them. Is this permissible, or is it considered riba (usury or interest)?
The Shaykh:
No, they buy them and sell them; it is not riba (usury or interest), it is not selling dirhams for dirhams. They buy the bonds at a certain value and sell them, but the issue is that there is a fear of collusion between the employees and these brokers, and it may lead to manipulation. Therefore, it was presented, but nothing was done regarding it because it is not clear that it is prohibited; its prohibition is not clear, yes, and there is hesitation regarding its permissibility. So the Muslim should avoid this and go to review and get his passport without this method; that is better for him and for his conscience. Yes.
The questioner:
And Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
If he is suffering, he must be patient. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 092 من 123 / شرح كتاب زاد المستقنع / العدد / صالح الفوزان / الفقه / كبار العلماء — youtube.com (29:19)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.