The ruling on exchanging paper riyals for metal riyals
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on exchanging ten paper riyals for nine metal riyals?
Answer:
Yes, this is a matter that has occurred and questions about it have become frequent. This is not permissible. This is riba (usury or interest), because it is all Saudi riyals, so it is one type. The Saudi currency is one type, the English currency is another type, and the American currency is another type. So the currency of every country is an independent type. The Saudi riyal is one type, whether it is paper or metal; it is one type. And it is not permissible to sell one type of currency for another type of currency with a difference in amount.
Honorable Shaykh, what is the ruling on exchanging ten paper riyals for nine metal riyals?
Answer:
Yes, this is a matter that has occurred and questions about it have become frequent. This is not permissible. This is riba (usury or interest), because it is all Saudi riyals, so it is one type. The Saudi currency is one type, the English currency is another type, and the American currency is another type. So the currency of every country is an independent type. The Saudi riyal is one type, whether it is paper or metal; it is one type. And it is not permissible to sell one type of currency for another type of currency with a difference in amount.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تتمة باب الربا — islamhouse.com (24:44)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.