We need money, so the bank buys the commodity and then sells it and sends us the price. Is this permissible?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. We need money and we find no one but the banks. They buy a commodity for us and then sell it, and after half an hour the amount is in the account. They know in advance, before we come to them, what the profit margin is, what the price is, and so on. Is this action permissible?
Answer:
It is not permissible for banks or others to sell what a person does not own. What is not in the banks' possession at the time of the contract, they are not allowed to sell, and it is not permissible to buy it from them, because of the gharar (excessive uncertainty in a contract) and ignorance involved in it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade that, saying: "Do not sell what you do not have." If they want to sell to people, they should bring the goods to their warehouses or storage facilities, stocking the goods. Then, when the customer comes, he takes what he wants for its price and value. But if they have nothing, and the customer comes, they negotiate with him and determine the price and profit, then the bank or other party goes and buys the commodity. He did not buy it for himself, nor did he own it; rather, he bought it for the customer. He bought it for the customer and paid the value on his behalf, then recovers it with a profit. This is riba (usury or interest). This is a loan. This is a riba loan, may Allah protect us from it. In addition to the fact that it is selling what one does not own, it is a riba loan, because he did not buy the commodity for himself but for the customer. It is as if he is his agent, paying the value from his own funds on the customer's behalf, then recovering it from him with an increase. Thus, two defects are combined in it. The first defect is that he sold what he does not own. The second defect is that he engaged in riba by lending the customer the price and recovering it with an increase. This is explicit riba.
There is no way out of this except that those who want to sell to people should have the goods with them in their warehouses or storage facilities. Then, when the customers come, they sell to them from what is available at a known value.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. We need money and we find no one but the banks. They buy a commodity for us and then sell it, and after half an hour the amount is in the account. They know in advance, before we come to them, what the profit margin is, what the price is, and so on. Is this action permissible?
Answer:
It is not permissible for banks or others to sell what a person does not own. What is not in the banks' possession at the time of the contract, they are not allowed to sell, and it is not permissible to buy it from them, because of the gharar (excessive uncertainty in a contract) and ignorance involved in it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade that, saying: "Do not sell what you do not have." If they want to sell to people, they should bring the goods to their warehouses or storage facilities, stocking the goods. Then, when the customer comes, he takes what he wants for its price and value. But if they have nothing, and the customer comes, they negotiate with him and determine the price and profit, then the bank or other party goes and buys the commodity. He did not buy it for himself, nor did he own it; rather, he bought it for the customer. He bought it for the customer and paid the value on his behalf, then recovers it with a profit. This is riba (usury or interest). This is a loan. This is a riba loan, may Allah protect us from it. In addition to the fact that it is selling what one does not own, it is a riba loan, because he did not buy the commodity for himself but for the customer. It is as if he is his agent, paying the value from his own funds on the customer's behalf, then recovering it from him with an increase. Thus, two defects are combined in it. The first defect is that he sold what he does not own. The second defect is that he engaged in riba by lending the customer the price and recovering it with an increase. This is explicit riba.
There is no way out of this except that those who want to sell to people should have the goods with them in their warehouses or storage facilities. Then, when the customers come, they sell to them from what is available at a known value.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [1133 -2802] نحتاج إلى المال فيقوم البنك بشراء السلعة ثم بيعها وإرسال ثمنها إلينا، هل هذا جائز؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.