What is the ruling on purchasing with credit cards, specifically "MasterCard"?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner: The MasterCard, this MasterCard, is it permissible to deal in gold with it, for example, buying and selling with MasterCard?
The Shaykh: We have been asked about this many times, and it remains, meaning, there is doubt regarding its use; because it is feared that behind it lies dealing in what they call interest, which is actually riba.
The questioner: ... it comes because the bank employee, the representative, takes a commission of three percent on every amount, and the shop owner takes five percent from the customer, saying: this is the commission for the bank employee, he takes more than the bank employee.
The Shaykh: Yes, this is a commission, and they call it by a name other than its true name.
The questioner: They call it a commission, a commission for the bank employee.
The Shaykh: Did you understand it?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh: The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said in an authentic hadith:, so riba is now called a commission, and the evidence that it is riba is that this commission may double as the money or the loan or something similar doubles, and therefore dealing with this type of card still has a major problem until the truth becomes clear, whether there is actually riba or it is merely a commission as you mentioned earlier?
Please proceed.
The questioner: There is a Shaykh who issued a fatwa to us on this permitting it, there is a ShaykhThe Shaykh : Muhammad Ali al-Sabuni first issued a fatwa forbidding it, then someone gave him another approach, saying to him how can a person carry a lot of money, like how can he bear carrying a lot of money, so this card lightens the burden on him, so he permitted itThe Shaykh : Muhammad Ali al-Sabuni.
The Shaykh: Yes, what do we have to do with him? He carries the burden of his fatwa that contradicts the Shari'ah.
Yes.
The Shaykh: We have been asked about this many times, and it remains, meaning, there is doubt regarding its use; because it is feared that behind it lies dealing in what they call interest, which is actually riba.
The questioner: ... it comes because the bank employee, the representative, takes a commission of three percent on every amount, and the shop owner takes five percent from the customer, saying: this is the commission for the bank employee, he takes more than the bank employee.
The Shaykh: Yes, this is a commission, and they call it by a name other than its true name.
The questioner: They call it a commission, a commission for the bank employee.
The Shaykh: Did you understand it?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh: The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said in an authentic hadith:
There will surely be among my Ummah people who will drink intoxicants and call them by other than their name
ليكوننَّ في أمتي أقوام يشربون الخمر يسمُّونها بغير اسمهاPlease proceed.
The questioner: There is a Shaykh who issued a fatwa to us on this permitting it, there is a ShaykhThe Shaykh : Muhammad Ali al-Sabuni first issued a fatwa forbidding it, then someone gave him another approach, saying to him how can a person carry a lot of money, like how can he bear carrying a lot of money, so this card lightens the burden on him, so he permitted itThe Shaykh : Muhammad Ali al-Sabuni.
The Shaykh: Yes, what do we have to do with him? He carries the burden of his fatwa that contradicts the Shari'ah.
Yes.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.