The discussion of circumvention and what is called "legal stratagems" in the issue of dealing with the bank in sales and purchases, which is the very essence of riba

The Shaykh : ... But last summer I was in "London," and I stayed at an association...?

Eid Abbasi : ... .

The Shaykh : ... So we met there as well with the Muslim youth, among them some Palestinian brothers residing there in "Abu Dhabi" and similar areas where there is today of this... So I learned from him that the group had not rid themselves of riba, not even in one aspect of it; for he informed me that this Islamic bank there inserts an intermediary between the one who wants to buy a need and the money they have, and the merchant, for example, wanting a car. The car's cash price is twenty thousand, for example, and on installments it is twenty thousand plus two or three thousand depending on the greed and avarice. So the bank inserts an intermediary between the buyer and the merchant; he buys the car from the merchant for twenty thousand cash, because he has the ability to lend, then he bills the one for whom the car is bought for twenty thousand plus two thousand, one thousand... The merchant takes the two thousand for the installment, and this intermediary takes it... in exchange for having paid the money for this buyer. This is a matter we call "twisting and turning," and it is what Islam has forbidden; because Islam does not look at formalities, but rather at the realities to which they lead...
This resembles what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) reported about the Jews when he said: , the meaning of the hadith points in one aspect to something like His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): , of these good things are fats... the lawful. The Jews were commanded, due to their stubbornness, affectation, and strictness, to slaughter a sacrificial animal, to benefit from its red meat, and to throw its fat to the ground, of which are the fats. So what did the Jews do? And they were cursed for it among the things for which they were cursed. But... all of it falls under the category of circumvention, which is called—regrettably—among Muslims today "legal stratagems." The origin and source of legal stratagems are the Jews; for they permitted hunting but by way of circumvention on the Sabbath, as mentioned in the Qur'an. But they also permitted—regrettably—something else that many people do not know, which is the sale, and consequently the eating of the fats forbidden to them. It appears that Allah (Mighty and Majestic), when He forbade them the fats, they endured for a period of time, then the material greed that the Jews have become a byword for overcame them, so their patience ran out and was exhausted. So they took these fats and put them in large pots, and lit a fire underneath them, so they melted and took a new form. They said: "It is lawful. What happened? Just now it was forbidden, and now it is lawful. What happened? Nothing, except that it changed. The fat was wrinkled, it was cut up in a non-... manner, and so on. And behold, due to the melting, it takes... a level form. This is all that happened. So the fat became lawful in their claim, so they sold it and ate its price. He (peace be upon him) said: .
This method of circumvention has occurred in many of the sales of Muslims, not only recently but also in the past. And the door of stratagems—regrettably—is a chapter in the books of fiqh today. So whoever among you is afflicted with reading such books will remember a chapter titled: "The Chapter of Stratagems," and you will find there strange and very peculiar fatwas, from which many of the Muslim shaykhs have taken and been influenced... And I remember one of them who authored a treatise in which he mentioned, and we are on the topic of riba and warning against what leads to it, that he said: "The stratagem in permitting riba is to intend by it feeding, so he says: 'It is upon me for Allah that whenever I borrow a loan from a person, it is upon me for Allah that I give it to him...' So he does not hesitate after that to borrow one hundred dirhams and pay them one hundred and five. This is not riba, this is fulfilling a vow. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ; so this man obeys Allah; because he fulfills the vow, and he thinks that His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): , is from these people. The cause is the door of stratagem!!
This is as he (peace be upon him) said: . They said: O Messenger of Allah, the Jews and the Christians? He said: ; meaning: these are the ones whose ways and methods you will follow. And in another authentic narration outside the "Two Sahihs," there is a very subtle addition. He (peace be upon him) said: ""Even if they were to enter the burrow of a scorpion, you would enter it"" Excuse me, , marrying the mother is among the greatest of sins, so how is it when he commits zina with her and on the side of the road? If there were among the Jews and Christians someone who did that, there would be among you someone who does that. This is from the category of imitating them... And our reality is the greatest proof that this hadith is from the inspiration of the sky; because he does not speak from desire, .