What is the meaning of 'inah sale?

The questioner : What does it mean, O Shaykh? I mean, explain—by Allah—the 'inah sale.

The Shaykh : The 'inah sale is a type of usurious transaction. In reality, this is one of the calamities that befell the Muslim community after it was colonized by disbelieving states. They came to the lands of the Muslims with some transactions that disbelievers engage in. As our Lord—Mighty and Majestic—described them rightly, they are: . Since they do not prohibit or permit, they brought their ideas and transactions and poured them among the Muslims. Many Muslims were deceived by them due to their ignorance of their religion on one hand, and perhaps their laxity in applying their religion on the other hand. Here are two plagues that are the affliction of Muslims today: ignorance of the religion, and neglect of what they know of the religion. So they brought a transaction that was not known before throughout these fourteen centuries; it is what is called today installment sales. Muslims fifty years ago did not know of a sale called installment sales. This is, of course, an innovation of the disbelievers whom Allah—Mighty and Majestic—described in His Book by saying: . How is the verse? Yes, what is the verse?

The questioner : .

The Shaykh : ; so these disbelievers brought their worldly life, and it carried them to completely neglect their Hereafter. I say completely because the disbelievers from among the Christians and the Jews still have a remnant of religion, but their greed for the world and their concern with its affairs made them forget the remaining portion of religion they have. Therefore, they do not prohibit or permit, and the Muslims imitated them in much of what they do in their transactions, including installment sales.
In my opinion, installment sales are usurious. We have texts from the Shari'ah that make us aware that this sale is contrary to the Shari'ah, let alone the fact that the general rule prohibiting usury includes installment sales. Even if the form of installment sales does not clearly show usury, the principle is that the Muslim should return to the texts of the Shari'ah in every ruling, small or large, hidden or apparent, and submit to them. So installment sales fall under two texts established from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):
The first: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited two sales in one sale." This hadith is narrated by some of the compilers of the Sunan and by Imam Ahmad in the Musnad. He has an addition that clarifies the meaning of two sales in one sale, because the hadith in his collection is narrated by Sammak ibn Harb through his chain from Ibn Mas'ud. It was said to Sammak: What are two sales in one sale? ... This is for such-and-such in cash, and such-and-such on credit.
This is the installment sale that is done today. This car is four thousand in cash, and four thousand and five hundred on installments; it increased by five hundred. "He prohibited two sales in one sale." What are two sales in one sale? That you say: I sell this to you for such-and-such in cash, and for such-and-such on credit; for one dinar in cash and for one dinar and a qirsh on credit. What is the ruling on this increase?
The answer came in the second hadith. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): . A need arose for him in the form of two sales: cash for such-and-such, and installments for such-and-such. The second such-and-such is an increase, as we illustrated earlier. Installments for one dinar—excuse me—cash for one dinar, installments for one dinar and a qirsh. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): , meaning: take the lesser of the two. In the example, he has one dinar. If he takes one dinar and a qirsh.
The 'inah sale transaction mentioned in the hadith just now is preceded by installment sales. Each of the two sales differs from the other in terms of the severity of the prohibition on one hand, and in terms of the intention of the transacting parties on the other hand. In installment sales, in reality, each party wants to perform his role: the seller wants to sell, and the buyer wants to buy. But in the 'inah sale, the one who comes to the merchant does not want to buy. This is a point that differs completely from installment sales. The buyer comes to the merchant to obtain cash, but he inserts between himself and the merchant an intermediary, which is the need he wants or pretends to buy. He wants money. And this is undoubtedly what forces him is the disintegration of the Islamic bond between Muslims. They do not represent in their reality the example that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) truly struck for the believers, saying: . So a person finds himself in need of money; meaning, in need of a loan from Allah—Mighty and Majestic—, but he does not find anyone to lend him a good loan. The reason is that there is no longer this trust between Muslims on one hand, and there is no longer this generosity on the other hand. This generosity that springs from the Muslim, desiring what is with Allah—Mighty and Majestic—of reward and recompense. For he knows the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): . If a Muslim lends two dirhams, it is as if he gave charity with one dirham that came out of his pocket and does not return to him.
So it is expected of Muslims to cooperate in this way and for some of them to lend to others a good loan. When the strong bonds of the tie between Muslims disintegrated, the Muslim who wants to trade—for example—wants to take any path to obtain cash. He knows that there are large merchants, and that they sell in two ways: cash sale at a lower price and installment sale at a higher price. So this man, according to his need, wants—for example—thousands. He comes to a car merchant. He wants hundreds of thousands. He comes—for example—to a refrigerator merchant, and so on. He sees the car, for example, and says: How much is this? He says to him: Cash—for example, as we said earlier—four thousand, and on credit—or installments, as they say today—four thousand and five hundred. The man says: I bought it—and he does not want the car at all—he says: I bought it. Will you buy this car from me in cash? The merchant knows at that time that the man, after the ink has dried on the paper that was recorded that he must pay four thousand and five hundred every month—for example—the amount they agreed on, knows that when the seller returns and says to him: Buy this car from me in cash, it becomes clearly evident to the merchant that this man wants liquidity, as they say today. He wants dinars, and he has no need for the car. And at that time, he unleashes... upon him...
... whereas with installments he profits more, as we mentioned. When he finds this man saying: Buy this car from me in cash, he returns and buys it from him for less than what it cost him. Of course, this is a settled matter; for less than what it cost him. We said: it cost him four thousand minus two hundred, so he added two hundred as profit for cash, and five hundred for installments. So for installments he profits five hundred plus two hundred, whereas for cash he profits only two hundred. This is a hypothetical case, of course. When this man offers to sell him the car he bought from him for four thousand and five hundred, the man says: I buy it from you—for example—for three thousand, three thousand and five hundred, three thousand and six hundred, three thousand and seven hundred. He profits either way. So that man does not believe he will receive this money, so he goes and takes—for example—three thousand and seven hundred. What was recorded against him? Four thousand and five hundred. This is clearly a cycle and a trick and playing with making lawful what Allah—Mighty and Majestic—has forbidden of usury. This is called the 'inah sale. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): .
So we said that in the hadith there is a description by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) of the disease that will afflict the Muslims and they will be humiliated because of it, and a description of the cure that if they take it, Allah—Mighty and Majestic—will heal them and lift from them the humiliation they have earned because of their deviation from their religion. This return to the religion requires, first—as I said, and I end the answer with this so we can hear what you have—first, it requires that it be understood correctly, and that it be applied—also—completely, without any shortcoming or crookedness.
Please proceed.

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : It seems you wanted to say something.