The Ruling on Leasing with an Option to Purchase in Cars

Question:
May Allah reward you. Abu Hani from al-Ta'if, please go ahead, my brother Abu Hani. Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy. And upon you be peace. I have a question about cars that are leased with an option to purchase. If I sit for two months and don't pay, the company takes the car back from the same location and it remains with them in a degraded state. I don't know if it is forbidden or permissible, what is it? May Allah bless you, thank you.

Answer:
My brother, leasing with an option to purchase, a ruling was issued by the Council of Senior Scholars forbidding it years ago, and it was published and announced. But these people do not refrain from what they are doing, and this is a forbidden transaction that is not permissible, because the sale or lease with an option to purchase combines two different contracts in terms of conditions and rulings. Also, the transfer of ownership is unknown; one does not know what the car or other item will end up being. One does not know what the condition of the lessor will end up being, so it is a sale of the unknown, and it involves harm and exploitation of people. Yes.